By now you're well aware of the push for states to temporarily waive supervisory agreements and grant PAs full practice authority in the midst of COVID-19. This isn't a new concept, just one that we've been forced to address in an expedited fashion in the face of this pandemic.
The @aapaorg has coined the idea of 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐍𝐓 elimination of supervisory agreements as 𝐎𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 (𝐎𝐓𝐏).
"𝘖𝘛𝘗 𝘖𝘊𝘊𝘜𝘙𝘚 𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘕 𝘗𝘈𝘚, 𝘗𝘏𝘠𝘚𝘐𝘊𝘐𝘈𝘕𝘚, 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘖𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘓𝘛𝘏𝘊𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘍𝘌𝘚𝘚𝘐𝘖𝘕𝘈𝘓𝘚 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘒 𝘛𝘖𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙 𝘛𝘖 𝘗𝘙𝘖𝘝𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘘𝘜𝘈𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘠 𝘊𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏𝘖𝘜𝘛 𝘉𝘜𝘙𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘕𝘚𝘖𝘔𝘌 𝘈𝘋𝘔𝘐𝘕𝘐𝘚𝘛𝘙𝘈𝘛𝘐𝘝𝘌 𝘊𝘖𝘕𝘚𝘛𝘙𝘈𝘐𝘕𝘛𝘚."
𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐓𝐏, 𝐀𝐀𝐏𝐀 𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎:
1. Eliminate the legal requirement for a specific relationship between a PA, physician or any other healthcare provider in order for a PA to practice to the full extent of their education, training and experience
2. Create a separate majority-PA board to regulate PAs or add PAs and physicians who work with PAs to medical or healing arts boards
3. Authorize PAs to be eligible for direct payment by all public and private insurers
𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐒:
PATIENTS - Expands access to high quality care, particularly in rural and underserved areas
EMPLOYERS - Provides more flexibility in determining healthcare teams, meeting patient needs
LEGISLATORS - Lowers Medicaid costs, reducing healthcare spending
PHYSICIANS - Relieves unnecessary administrative/legal burdens, strengthening healthcare teams
𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝗪𝐀𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐒:
▫️PAs will still practice in teams with physicians
▫️PAs scope of practice will still be determined at the practice level
▫️PAs will continue to collaborate, consult, and refer patients to other healthcare providers if the patient’s condition falls outside of their education, training, and experience
What are your thoughts on OTP?
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