Physician Assistants Go To Washington Looking For Respect

With all the attention lavished on the bipartisan health summit and President Obama's speech signaling the beginning of the endgame for overhaul, you might have missed a move by physician assistants to get in on the health action.

But if you looked closely at the people in white lab coats behind Obama on Wednesday, you'd have seen Stephen Hanson, president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

The president's inclusion of physician assistants in the event made Hanson feel that PAs "have arrived," he told Shots. Though Hanson wouldn't predict the ultimate outcome for overhaul, he called Obama's speech "very dramatic."

 

The week before, more than 230 physician assistants from the American Academy of Physician Assistants came to Washington to lobby lawmakers on issues ranging from legislation that would allow them to treat federal employees hurt in the workplace to getting the authority to prescribe buprenorphine—a drug used to help wean addicts from heroin and cocaine.

They're also pushing for more federal education funding to bolster the ranks of PA as primary care providers and for legislative changes that would give them greater latitude in caring for patients.

PAs handle routine medical care under the close supervision of doctors, freeing them up to spend more time treating more complex cases.

As some health watchers forecast a shortage of primary care doctors, PAs are pushing to provide more care.

Turf battles brewing? Not so much. Doctors and PAs are pretty much on the same page, unlike nurse practitioners who have tussled with doctors.

Nearly 74,000 PAs practice in America today, and last year they had more than 4 million visits with patients. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2018, nearly 104,000 PAs will be in practice, amounting to a 39 percent jump over a decade.

Cindy Lord, a physician assistant in Connecticut and immediate past president of the AAPA, said that because of their quick training, PAs are particularly adept at fitting into the medical workforce when shortages emerge.

Her successor agrees. "We are a solution to the problem because we can get people who are ready to care for Americans on the street quickly," said Hanson, who works at burn unit in California. "I think we will always practice with physician supervision," said Hanson, who added that in addition to helping doctors diagnose and treat patients, he also does paperwork and dictation work.

"We have been very, very content for 50 years in our relationship with physicians," Lord said. "We're not looking for a lot of glory, we're just looking to take care of patients."

Villegas is a reporter for Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service.