Senate Bill 2443

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 73-26-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE DEFINITION OF "PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT" TO DELETE THE PROVISION THAT NOTHING IN CHAPTER 26, TITLE 73, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, AUTHORIZES THE LICENSURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST'S ASSISTANTS; TO AMEND SECTION 73-26-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE PASSAGE OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR CERTIFICATION OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS (NCCAA) CERTIFICATION EXAMINATION AND HAVING CURRENT NCCAA CERTIFICATION AS ACCEPTABLE ELIGIBILITY OPTIONS FOR APPLICANTS FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT LICENSURE OR LICENSE RENEWAL; TO AMEND SECTION 73-26-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE PROVISION THAT NOTHING IN CHAPTER 26, TITLE 73, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, OR IN RULES ADOPTED BY THE STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL LICENSURE SHALL AUTHORIZE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS TO ADMINISTER OR MONITOR CERTAIN ANESTHESIA AS UTILIZED IN SURGICAL PROCEDURES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 73-26-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-26-1. As used in this chapter:

(a) "Board" means the State Board of Medical Licensure.

(b) "Physician assistant" means a person who meets the board's criteria for licensure as a physician assistant and is licensed as a physician assistant by the board. * * *

(c) "Supervising physician" means a doctor of medicine or a doctor of osteopathic medicine who holds an unrestricted license from the board, and who is in the full-time practice of medicine and who has been approved by the board to supervise physician assistants.

(d) "Supervision" means overseeing and accepting responsibility for the medical services rendered by a physician assistant in a manner approved by the board.

SECTION 2. Section 73-26-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-26-3. (1) The State Board of Medical Licensure shall license and regulate the practice of physician assistants in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(2) All physician assistants who are employed as physician assistants by a Department of Veterans Affairs health care facility, a branch of the United States military or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and who are practicing as physician assistants in a federal facility in Mississippi on July 1, 2000, and those physician assistants who trained in a Mississippi physician assistant program and have been continuously practicing as a physician assistant in Mississippi since 1976, shall be eligible for licensure if they submit an application for licensure to the board by December 31, 2000. Physician assistants licensed under this subsection will be eligible for license renewal so long as they meet standard renewal requirements.

(3) Before December 31, 2004, applicants for physician assistant licensure, except those licensed under subsection (2) of this section, must be graduates of physician assistant educational programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs or its predecessor or successor agency, have passed the certification examination administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) or by the National Commission for Certification of Anesthesiologist Assistants (NCCAA), have current NCCPA or NCCAA certification, and possess a minimum of a baccalaureate degree. Physician assistants meeting these licensure requirements will be eligible for license renewal so long as they meet standard renewal requirements.

(4) On or after December 31, 2004, applicants for physician assistant licensure must meet all of the requirements in subsection (3) of this section and, in addition, must have obtained a minimum of a master's degree in a health-related or science field.

(5) Applicants for licensure who meet all licensure requirements except for the master's degree may be granted a temporary license by the board so long as they can show proof of enrollment in a master's program that will, when completed, meet the master's degree requirement. The temporary license will be valid for no longer than one (1) year, and may not be renewed.

(6) For new graduate physician assistants and all physician assistants receiving initial licenses in the state, except those licensed under subsection (2) of this section, supervision shall require the on-site presence of a supervising physician for one hundred twenty (120) days.

(7) To qualify for a Mississippi physician assistant license, an applicant must have successfully been cleared for licensure through an investigation that shall consist of a determination as to good moral character and verification that the prospective licensee is not guilty of or in violation of any statutory ground for denial of licensure. To assist the board in conducting its licensure investigation, all applicants shall undergo a fingerprint-based criminal history records check of the Mississippi central criminal database and the Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history database. Each applicant shall submit a full set of the applicant's fingerprints in a form and manner prescribed by the board, which shall be forwarded to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (department) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Identification Division for this purpose.

Any and all state or national criminal history records information obtained by the board that is not already a matter of public record shall be deemed nonpublic and confidential information restricted to the exclusive use of the board, its members, officers, investigators, agents and attorneys in evaluating the applicant's eligibility or disqualification for licensure, and shall be exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983. Except when introduced into evidence in a hearing before the board to determine licensure, no such information or records related thereto shall, except with the written consent of the applicant or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, be released or otherwise disclosed by the board to any other person or agency.

The board shall provide to the department the fingerprints of the applicant, any additional information that may be required by the department, and a form signed by the applicant consenting to the check of the criminal records and to the use of the fingerprints and other identifying information required by the state or national repositories.

The board shall charge and collect from the applicant, in addition to all other applicable fees and costs, such amount as may be incurred by the board in requesting and obtaining state and national criminal history records information on the applicant.

SECTION 3. Section 73-26-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-26-5. (1) The board shall promulgate and publish reasonable rules and regulations necessary to enable it to discharge its functions and to enforce the provisions of law regulating the practice of physician assistants. Those rules shall include, but are not limited to: qualifications for licensure for physician assistants; scope of practice of physician assistants; supervision of physician assistants; identification of physician assistants; grounds for disciplinary actions and discipline of physician assistants, which shall specifically include discipline for violation(s) of the provisions of Sections 41-121-1 through 41-121-9 relating to deceptive advertisement by health care practitioners; and setting and charging reasonable fees for licensure and license renewals for physician assistants. * * * In addition, the board shall not adopt any rule or regulation or impose any requirement regarding the licensing of physician assistants that conflicts with the prohibitions in Section 73-49-3. The board shall promulgate rules for licensure and license renewals in accordance with Section 33-1-39.

(2) If the board appoints a task force or committee to address physician assistant regulation, at least one (1) member of the task force shall be a nurse practitioner who is a member of the Mississippi Board of Nursing or a nurse practitioner appointee selected by the board from a list of three (3) recommendations submitted by the Mississippi Nurses Association, and at least one (1) member shall be a physician assistant selected by the board from a list of three (3) recommendations submitted by the Mississippi Academy of Physician Assistants.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.