For Immediate Release:
October 21, 2009
Brooke Braun
American Academy of Physician Assistants
703-836-2272 ext. 3502
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Physician Assistant Asks Senate Committee to Create VA Position
WASHINGTON – Today, on behalf of America’s more than 75,000 clinically practicing physician assistants (PAs) in the United States, American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) vice president, Air Force veteran, and PA William Fenn testified before the United States Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in support of S. 1155.
The bill, introduced by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI) in May 2009, is intended to elevate the current position of PA Advisor to a full-time Director of Physician Assistant Services in the office of the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health, improving the availability and quality of medical care to our nation’s veteran population.
“AAPA and the Veterans Affairs Physician Assistant Association believe that enactment of S. 1155 is essential to improving patient care for our nation’s veterans, ensuring that the nearly 1,900 PAs employed by the VA are fully utilized and removing unnecessary restrictions on the ability of PAs to provide medical care in VA facilities,” said Fenn in his testimony. “Additionally, the associations believe that enactment of S. 1155 is necessary to advance recruitment and retention of PAs within the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
In July 28, 2009, a similar bill was merged into H.R. 3219 and passed the House of Representatives. AAPA is eager to see the Senate VA Affairs Committee quickly move S.1155 to the mark-up calendar and favorably report it out of committee for consideration by the full Senate.
AAPA fully supports policies and programs eliminating health disparities and ensuring access to quality, affordable and cost-efficient care for all Americans, particularly our nation’s veterans. PAs practice medicine as delegated by and with the supervision of a physician. Physicians may delegate to PAs those medical duties that are within the physician's scope of practice and the PA’s training and experience, and are allowed by law. A physician assistant provides health care services that were traditionally only performed by a physician. All states, the District of Columbia, and Guam authorize physicians to delegate prescriptive privileges to the PAs they supervise. AAPA estimates that in 2008, over 257 million patient visits were made to PAs and approximately 332 million medications were prescribed or recommended by PAs.
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The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) is the only national professional association that represents PAs across all medical and surgical specialties in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the armed forces and federal services. Founded in 1968, AAPA works to increase the professional and personal growth of the entire PA workforce by providing comprehensive support and advocacy for physician assistants so that they may, in turn, provide patients with increased access to quality, cost-effective health care. Learn more at www.aapa.org.
