UCPAP faculty promote PA Bill

Published by UCPAP Faculty and Staff, March 5th, 2014

The West Virginia legislative session is in full swing and one of the bills currently being reviewed relates to the licensure, supervision, and regulation of physician assistants. Senate Bill 425, commonly referred to as the PA Modernization Bill, looks to streamline the licensure process for PA's in the state of WV. Key elements of the bill include:

The ability to apply for and obtain a physician assistant license prior to securing a job or supervising physician. Currently, in the state of WV, a PA is unable to apply for a license until he/she has found a position and identified their supervising physician. The current method can lead to extended waiting periods between being offered a job to actually starting a job. A PA will still have to meet all of the other current Board of Medicine/Board of Osteopathy requirements prior to being granted a license. Once a position is obtained, a PA can then submit the supervising physician agreement. A PA will not be permitted to start practicing without the supervising physician agreement.
Increasing the number of PA's that may be licensed under one supervising physician. Currently, a physician may only supervise three PA's. This bill would increase the limit to five PA's.
Streamlining the process to allow PA's to work in special situations such as summer camps and disaster relief efforts. Currently, PA's must go through a lengthy process to obtain board approval prior to participating in such special situations. By the time this process is complete, the event being applied for is often over.

The Bill passed the Senate and made it through the House Health and Human Resources and Judiciary Committees without amendments. UCPAP faculty members have been on hand at the state capitol to support the bill. Medical Director, Dr. Sherry Young; Program Director and WVAPA president, Jennifer Pack; and Associate Program Director, Tina Chafin (pictured above), attended the committee meetings to serve as resources and address committee members if they had any questions regarding the PA profession or PA training.

The UCPAP is excited about the progress of the bill, but it still has a few more steps to go! The bill will next go to the House floor for final readings and vote. If it passes the House, it will then go to the Governor for final signature. UCPAP faculty and students will continue to follow and promote the bill through this process and hope to soon be announcing this bill as a new PA law!