Expand Access to Healthcare Providers

As your constituent, I am asking you to support H.B. 313, which allows the independent practice of Physicians Assistants. This bill provides a good step in building a patient-centered health care system that lowers costs, increases choices, and improves access for millions of people seeking relief. The reforms outlined in the bill to expand access to physician assistants would promote all these important goals.  

 
Over the past several years, physician assistants (PAs) have played an essential role in caring for patients with COVID-19. Around the country, governors had suspended burdensome laws and regulations that require physician assistants to practice under the supervision of a physician. In addition, Congress authorized physician assistants to deliver care to Medicare recipients without the need for physician supervision. 
 
By removing these requirements, physicians assistants could go to the communities and hospitals that needed their help the most. In addition, hospitals in those states now have enough staff to add new beds and even build temporary facilities to care for patients. 
 
Unfortunately, Montana did not remove these requirements, which significantly impeded the ability of PAs to serve patients.  

 
PAs are trained to diagnose illness, develop and manage treatment plans, and prescribe medications in various facilities, including hospitals, urgent care, and primary care settings. They develop this expertise by undergoing a rigorous education in master’s level courses and working 2,000 hours in clinical rotations in the fields that include emergency medicine and internal medicine.

This bill ends the forced supervision of PAs by doctors and enables the larger scope of practice for PAs to act independently and entrepreneurially. More freedom for PAs to provide services to the public means more abundant medical care, which means more affordable medical care.