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Licensing growth, complaint volumes and enforcement backlog highlighted to California Physician Assistant Board
Summary
Staff reported that California now has about 19,000 active physician assistant licensees and described complaint and enforcement trends, including rising investigation aging and enforcement costs.
At the April 21 meeting, licensing and enforcement staff for the California Physician Assistant Board reported steady growth in licensees and persisting enforcement workload pressures.
Julie Caldwell, lead licensing analyst, told the board the number of licensees in current status was 19,007 and that the total number of license records across all statuses stood at 27,970. Between Oct. 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, staff approved 1,117 initial licenses, received 1,094 initial applications and processed 4,396 renewals. Caldwell said the average licensing timeline is roughly a 30‑ to 45‑day window when routine documentation is provided, with an initial application review target of 30 days.
On enforcement, Linda Serrano, complaint analyst, reported 134 complaints in quarter 2 and 162 in quarter 3 for a combined 296 complaints in that six‑month window; the grand total of complaints received for those two quarters was reported as 320 when convictions and arrests were included. Serrano said 67 complaints were referred for investigation in the same period and that the average age of pending investigations was about 187 days, with 19 investigations older than eight months.
Discipline staff provided related metrics. Christina LaForte, discipline analyst, reported that citation issuance increased (10 citations in quarter 2 and 25 in quarter 3) and provided updated fine totals. LaForte said formal accusations and petitions were filed in the reporting quarters; outcomes included probation, public reprovals and some revocations or surrenders.
Probation monitoring reported steady movement in caseloads. Virginia Gerard, probation monitor, said the board ended the reported period with 33 active probationers and five that were tolling (not currently practicing in California). Gerard noted that successful completions can be withheld from reporting if fines or financial obligations remain outstanding.
Board discussion and follow-up: Vice President Juan Armenta asked licensing staff to provide comparative state data on PA population growth; staff said the NCCPA publishes state‑by‑state data and agreed to submit that dataset for board review. Board members requested more detail about enforcement aging and the resources needed to reduce investigation backlogs. The licensing team also explained the Breeze application system and that applicants may hold many out‑of‑state licenses, sometimes slowing verification timelines.
No formal regulatory actions were taken on these reports; board members directed staff to supply the comparative data requested and to continue reporting standard performance metrics.
