In their May 15 op-ed, “Health care in Massachusetts is in need of reform,” House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano and Representative John J. Lawn Jr., House chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, spoke to the critical nature of their proposed reforms to the Commonwealth’s health care system and recommitted their body to ensuring high-quality, affordable health care for all Massachusetts residents. We applaud the Legislature for taking on this necessary challenge in response, in part, to the Steward Health Care crisis.
With Steward declaring bankruptcy and the future of its hospital network in question, physician associates, also known as physician assistants, must be able to practice with more flexibility in response to system needs and to preserve patient access to care. Massachusetts is home to more than 4,800 PAs, who work across all medical settings and collaborate with physicians and other health care professionals using a team practice model. A common-sense bill eliminating the requirement for PAs to have a supervising physician on file with the Commonwealth would remove an outdated barrier to practice while addressing the root of some of the inefficiencies in our health care system.
Removing the supervising physician requirement at the state level would allow PAs to provide the best possible team-based care at the practice level. This administrative change would reduce unnecessary bureaucratic overhead at a time when access to reliable, quality care is most at risk. In light of lawmakers’ stated commitments to health care reform, we call on the Legislature to pass the Senate bill allowing PAs to practice at the top of their licenses while fulfilling their core mission of caring for patients.
Joshua Merson
Legislative chair
Massachusetts Association of Physician Associates
Westford
The writer, a certified physician assistant, holds a doctor of medical science degree.
