Primary Care MD vs Primary Care PA

[MedPA]

Hi everyone,

I am a pre-PA student and I am here for advice. Despite what the title of my post is, I am not here to bash PAs or MDs. On the contrary, I am asking for more clarification on what the differences are between an MD and a PA in primary care (family med, hospitalist, geriatrics, pediatrics, EM, etc) in the sense of responsibilities, billing, and everything in between (of course, aside from length of training, pay and title). I feel as if there is a lot of overlap in this sector of medicine between both and a lot of what a MD can do in PC a PA can do. I want to dedicate most of my PA career in primary care because there is a huge need for more clinicians there and there's so many options to move into. 

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Joelseff]

It depends on the PA and the practice. I have been blessed in my previous career in Primary Care because the practices I worked in allowed me to function autonomously after my first year. I had my own panel, billed as much, actually billed more than most of my MD/DO colleagues due to the procedures I knew how to do that they either forgot how to do or never was trained in despite the 85% vs 100% billing rate. In my opinion, Primary Care is probably the area where you will most work like your MD/DO colleagues. Others that come to mind are ER/UC and hospital medicine.

 

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