Jason Delgado
Physician assistants in Florida may soon enjoy a broader scope of practice under a bill that cleared its final committee stop on Wednesday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee OK’d the bill (PCS/SB 894) along a near party line vote. Republican Sen. Manny Diaz is the bill sponsor.
Under the measure, a physician assistant may prescribe psychiatric controlled substances and certify various documents including Baker Act commitments, do-not-resuscitate orders, school physicals, and death certificates.
For prescriptions written by physician assistants, the assistant’s name, address and telephone number would be required to appear on the prescription, as well as the name of the supervising physician.
The bill would also allow a physician to supervise up to 10 assistants. Currently, a physician is limited to supervising four physician assistants.
Additionally, physician assistants would be permitted to directly bill for and receive payments, procure certain medical equipment and supervise medical assistants.
Lawmakers watered down the bill throughout the committee process.
The original bill defined the scope of practice for a physician assistant to include diagnosing illnesses, developing and managing treatment plans, performing medical procedures and prescribing and dispensing medications.
The initial bill also sought to allow physician assistants to practice without oversight. The provision, however, was altered in its first committee to instead modify the current limitation on the number of physician assistants a doctor could supervise.
A supervising physician is responsible and liable for any acts or omissions of the PAs he or she supervises and may not supervise more than four PAs at any time, according to a staff analysis.
A similar House bill (HB 431) has cleared all its committees and is headed to the House floor. Republican Rep. Bob Rommel is the House bill sponsor.
If signed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.
