Physician associates would work through collaboration agreements with doctors

Licensed physician assistants could also use the title “physician associate” and would work with doctors through collaboration agreements. These rules would cover people licensed by the State Board of Medicine as physician assistants. Each agreement would name a primary collaborating doctor and describe the level of collaboration. Collaboration would include immediate access to a doctor, an emergency plan, and regularly scheduled access for referrals and reviews. In a licensed health facility, a doctor would decide whether the number of associates they work with is consistent with safe patient care. These rules would take effect 60 days after the bill becomes law.

The primary collaborating doctor would set patient-record countersignature rules in the collaboration agreement. The rules would apply to patient records completed by a physician associate. These rules would take effect 60 days after the bill becomes law.

Physician associates could prescribe controlled drugs through collaboration with a doctor and within the limits written in their agreements. The agreement could allow up to a 30-day supply of the more tightly controlled Schedule II drugs and up to a 90-day supply of Schedule III, IV, or V drugs. They could not prescribe or dispense drugs independently. State board regulations would govern prescribing and dispensing. These rules would take effect 60 days after the bill becomes law.