Fantastic News! PA Practice Bill Passes Nebraska Legislature and Signed by Governor!
| Great News from Nebraska Academy of PAs! |
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| Bill to reform PA Practice Act passes |
May 26, 2009
Dear PA Colleague,
The Nebraska Academy of PAs (NAPA) has some fantastic news to report!! The language making changes to the PA Practice Act was passed by the Nebraska Legislature as an amendment to LB195 and was signed by the governor today (May 26). It will become effective September 29, 2009.
NAPA leaders have been working on this project for nearly four years, and enlisted the aid of the Nebraska Medical Association, Board of Medical Examiners, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) officials, key legislative members and the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). The main changes to the PA practice act include:
1. Supervising physicians will set standards of supervision for PAs with more than 2 years of experience; PAs with less than 2 years experience will have standards of supervision set by the Health Department (those are expected to be similar to current standards);
2. Credentialing of supervising physicians and biennial fees eliminated;
3. Increased the number of PAs that one physician may supervise from 2 to 4;
4. Allow PAs to pronounce death and sign death certificates and other forms not otherwise prohibited by law.
5. Allows for only the PA's name to be on prescription labels unless the physician's name is needed for reimbursement reasons.
New regulations as well as a new Scope of Practice Agreement will have to be drafted to implement the changes to the law. NAPA has enlisted the aid of AAPA in these endeavors. Stay tuned for further developments and updates closer to the implementation date of September 29th.
Thanks again for your assistance during this process. We could not have done this without you!
Regards,
Bonnie Shearer, PA-C
NAPA Legislative and Governmental Affairs Chairman
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