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Source: Lordelyn del Rosario
415-476-2557
19 June 1998
FEDERAL FUNDING NEEDED FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS, ACCORDING TO UCSF REPORT
To meet the needs of the changing health care system, federal funds should be used for the clinical training of physician assistants, according to a newly published report by the UCSF Center for Health Professions and the Pew Health Professions Commission. "In addition, existing funding should be used to attract, recruit, and retain individuals from underserved rural and urban areas and to increase minority representation within the profession," said
Edward O' Neil, PhD, director of the Center for the Health Professions and executive director of the Pew Health Professions Commission. The report, entitled Charting A Course for the 21st Century: Physician Assistants and Managed Care, examines the roles of physician assistants (PAs) in the managed health care environment and extends many of the recommendations made in the Pew Commission’s 1995 report, which called for the radical reduction in the health care workforce as a response to the changing health care system. The PA profession was created in the 1960’s during a time of physician shortages. According to the report, PAs increasingly will be valued by the managed care system as care providers, working under the supervision of physicians. In addition, PAs will play a significant role in providing primary health care to rural and underserved areas. The report further addresses the increased competition, particularly in urban areas amongst health care providers including nurse practitioners, physicians, and physician assistants. "PAs are a vital component to the health care delivery system under managed care," said O'Neil. "The Pew Health Professions Commission and the UCSF Center for the Health Professions felt it was important to address the changing educational and practice environment for PAs, and to encourage educators and policy makers to create a flexible and responsive workforce that could help meet the health care needs of this nation."
The report includes the following recommendations:
Federal funding should be made available to support the training of physician assistants in clinical settings. These funds should be paid directly to the clinical service site providing training and not to the educational programs that are responsible for organizing and conducting education.
Federal and state funds should be provided to PA educational programs to attract, recruit and retain individuals from underserved rural and urban areas or to achieve other policy goals that address broader health care concerns and issues such as minority recruitment.
The level of federal funds available to PA educational programs should not be increased as a way to begin new programs or increase class size.
To guard against oversupply, educational programs for PAs or any other health profession should not be expanded without an analysis of long and short-term market conditions.
Physician assistant education and training should include concepts in population based care, accountability, use and importance of information and demonstrable outcomes, interdependence among the health and human services professions, linkages between health care delivery and finance, and general emphasis on primary care. These elements should be added to existing course and clinical work, but should not lengthen PA education and training.
State practice acts should not have arbitrary practice barriers. Physician assistants should be able to practice to the full extent of their education, training and experience as delegated to do so by a supervising physician. State practice acts and insurance payment policies should not be a barrier to the full practice of PAs under existing state laws.
All medical residency programs should encourage team practice and include the opportunity to work with physician assistants.
The Pew Health Professions Commission is a national initiative for changing the health care workforce, and is administered through the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California San Francisco. The UCSF Center seeks to assist health care professionals, health professional schools, health care delivery organizations and public policy makers in responding to the challenges of educating and managing a health care workforce capable of improving the health and well being of people and their communities.
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