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Legislative Alert Letter February 15, 2014
Implementation of Act 100 and Act 101 Countersignature modification and temporary authorization to practice table
Act 100 / House Bill 1348: Countersignature modification and temporary authorization to practice under the State Board of Medicine
Act 101 / House Bill 1351: Countersignature modification and temporary authorization to practice under the State Board of Osteopathic Medicine
Bill summary
The PSPA is proud to announce that the House & Senate voted in favor of House Bills 1348 and 1351 giving supervising physicians the option to eliminate countersignature! The bills now move on to the Governor’s office for signature. They become effective 60 days from the time of signature. As you may remember, the PSPA negotiated a deal with the Pennsylvania Medical Society to amend countersignature as follows:
The supervising physician must countersign 100% of patient records completed by the PA within 10 days:
- For the first 12 months post-graduation and until initial licensure
- For the first 12 months in a new specialty
- For the first 6 months in the same specialty but new practice
The supervising physician written agreement needs to contain a statement that indicates the number, (if any), frequency and criteria for chart selection for physician review after the 100% requirement timef rame has passed. The legal Counsel for both boards have been modified the written agreement change forms at this time. In order to modify your present requirement for 100% countersignature within 10 days, the new written agreement change form will need to be approved by the board.
The bills also delineate the time frame for the Boards to review applications and work agreements. The language reads as follows:
“Upon submission of the application, board staff shall review the application only for completeness and shall issue a letter to the supervising physician providing the temporary authorization for the physician assistant to begin practice. If the application is not complete, including, but not limited to, required information or signatures not being provided or the fee not being submitted, a temporary authorization for the physician assistant to begin practicing shall not be issued. The temporary authorization, when issued, shall provide a period of 120 days during which the physician assistant may practice under the terms set forth in the written agreement as submitted to the board. Within 120 days the board shall notify the supervising physician of the final approval or disapproval of the application. If approved, a final approval of the written agreement shall be issued to the supervising physician. If there are discrepancies that have not been corrected within the 120- day period, the temporary authorization to practice shall expire.”
It will be extremely important that particular attention is paid to completing the application correctly so that the temporary authorization may be granted. The process since its inception last spring is taking anywhere from 3-10 days on average as long as the applications have been completed correctly. We suggest that you review the application yourself before it is submitted by the office manager, facility administrator or supervising physician. The more eyes that see it, the less chance of the application being rejected for incompleteness.
House Bill 1251: Expansion of ratios under State Board of Medicine
House Bill 1252: Expansion of ratios under State Board of Osteopathic Medicine
House 1804: Expansion of scope and Malpractice limits under State Board of Medicine
House 2088: Expansion of scope and Malpractice limits under State Board of Osteopathic Medicine