MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Public Health and Welfare

By: Senator(s) Huggins

AN ACT TO PROVIDE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE LICENSURE OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS; TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS; TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL LICENSURE TO PROMULGATE RULES AND REGULATIONS RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS; TO AMEND SECTION 73-43-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) As used in this act:

(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. Nothing in this act authorizes the licensure of anesthesiologist's assistants.

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

(2) All physician assistants who are employed as physician assistants by a Department of Veterans Affairs health care facility or a branch of the United States military or the Federal Bureau of Prisons and are practicing as PAs in a federal facility in Mississippi on the date of enactment will be eligible for licensure if they submit an application for licensure to the board by December 31, 2000. Physician assistants licensed under this provision will be eligible for license renewal so long as they meet standard renewal requirements.

(3) Prior to December 31, 2004, applicants for physician assistant licensure, except those licensed under subsection (2), 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, and have passed the certification examination administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants and have current NCCPA 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 the requirements in subsection (3) but in addition must have obtained a minimum of a master's degree in a health-related or science field.

SECTION 2. 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. Such 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, and grounds for disciplinary actions and discipline of physician assistants. However, nothing in this act nor in rules adopted by the board shall authorize physician assistants to administer or monitor general inhaled anesthesia, epidural anesthesia, spinal anesthesia, or monitored anesthesia as utilized in surgical procedures. Should the board appoint 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 3. Section 73-43-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-43-11. The State Board of Medical Licensure shall have the following powers and responsibilities:

(a) Setting policies and professional standards regarding the medical practice of physicians, osteopaths, podiatrists and physician assistants practicing with physician supervision;

(b) Considering applications for licensure;

(c) Conducting examinations for licensure;

(d) Investigating alleged violations of the medical practice act;

(e) Conducting hearings on disciplinary matters involving violations of state and federal law, probation, suspension and revocation of licenses;

(f) Considering petitions for termination of probationary and suspension periods, and restoration of revoked licenses;

(g) To 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 medicine; and

(h) To enter into contracts with any other state or federal agency, or with any private person, organization or group capable of contracting, if it finds such action to be in the public interest and in the furtherance of its responsibilities; and

(i) Perform the duties prescribed by Sections 1 through 3 of this act.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2000.