Moderator ventana Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 [h=1]Massachusetts Association Scores Big Legislative Victory[/h]2012-08-01 by Adam Brackemyre, AAPA assistant director of state advocacy and outreach The Massachusetts Association of Physician Assistants (MAPA) won several key improvements to the PA profession in the recently-passed healthcare cost containment legislation, S.2400. The changes this law will make to the PA Practice Act include the following: PAs will be granted primary care provider (PCP) status. PAs will have their own panel of patients, be listed in the insurer index as a PCP and allow referrals to be placed by the PA PCP. The restriction on the number of PAs a physician can supervise at one time (currently 4) will be removed. Physicians will be able to determine how many PAs they are capable of supervising at the practice level. The requirement that a supervising physician’s name be included on the prescription written by a PA will be removed. PAs will be recognized as registered and licensed practitioners. PAs will be added to the list of providers whose apology or act of omission to a patient or patient’s family cannot be used against them in litigation. The Health Care Workforce Center will be required to study the PA role in primary care. PAs will be eligible for student loan forgiveness under the Health Care Workforce Trust Fund. This achievement would not have been possible without MAPA’s leadership and government relations professionals acting on behalf of MAPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LESH Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Outstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted August 3, 2012 Author Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 this is huge Notice that we no longer have to have the supervising physicians name of the prescription, this completely disassociates us from the physician as far as the pharmacies go or other DME suppliers. Should really help our own dependence/independent practice. additionally the mandating that insurancey companies credential us and recognize us as PCP's will have long-term shift in how we are perceived and utilized the qualifying for long reimbursement/forgiveness put this on par with both primary care docs and nurse practitioners, a longtime coming. I cannot say enough about Heather Tafton, and all the other people from MAPA that have devoted so much time and energy to this issue. this is why you join state and national agencies as they do get political victories and advance our cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToppDog Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 That's awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hubbardtim48 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Good job!!! Great news and makes it better for us PA students!!!! :) Thanks again everyone!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmj11 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Congratulations! This is the way the organizations suppose to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andersenpa Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Amazing news. Big ups to all Mass PAs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriarMedic Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Awesome! Do you have more information or can you point me in the right direction RE: PAs will be eligible for student loan forgiveness under the Health Care Workforce Trust Fund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 Congrats! this is a big win. sounds like mapa did all the work. was the aapa involved at all? did they even know there was a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdtpac Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 sounds like mapa did all the work.was the aapa involved at all? did they even know there was a problem? EMEDPA, Why do I always get the sense that you take every opportunity you can to " dog" or criticize the Academy and make it look like they do not helped their constituent organization? Of course, the Academy probably had some awareness and possibly input with helping Massachusetts get this legislation passed. As a matter of fact Massachusetts was probably one of the first states that was able to get many of the 6 elements included in the Academy's guidelines for modernization of the PA practice acts. If you have not seen this document/guidelines here is the link: http://www.aapa.org/the_pa_profession/federal_and_state_affairs/resources/item.aspx?id=760&terms=key elements Congratulations to Massachusetts, great work! The Ohio Association is currently working on drafting legislation for the 2013 legislative session that will include the 6 elements. We have already have a law that includes at least 2 of the elements: No countersignatures, scope of practice determined at the practice level (currently in the hospital the medical board has no control over credentialing/privileging PAs in hospitals). BTW-as long as we're taking digs at any group (name change committee)we didn't have to change our title to Physician Associate to enable Massachusetts to achieve this incredible goal. Thanks for the post ventana. Try doing some of your own research on subjects this important EMEDPA before you make comments like you generally do towards the Academy. John D. Trimbath, PA-C, MPAS President-elect, 2012-2013 Ohio Association of Physician Assistants Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 "probably had some awareness". yeah, that's comforting. do they have any awareness that they are about to lose a whole lot of members over their failure to act on name change? I know several who have already made this decision, although I myself have not(yet). it follows that if the academy ignores the single most important issue facing our profession today(lack of recognition that we exist and that we are NOT assistants) that they might also ignore things like the ability of pa's to practice. a former aapa president who is against name change still tried to make the case for an independent committee to investigate name change and was voted down. a 2 term president of the aapa spoke on the importance of name change for the future of the profession and was ignored. the testimony of a single pa that 2 docs she knew were against it counted more than the 6500 folks and a majority of pa's asking for name change. 36 states had a clear majority in favor. specialty organizations are changing their names to reflect associate. the fp pa society and air force pa society have a position statement in favor. other specialty societies are currently surveying their members on the issue. The tide is still turning. this issue will not go away. aapa can accept that or become like the ama, a weak voice in the wilderness that makes statements but is not supported by the majoity of those they would seek to represent. the aapa's stance is that pa advancement should come from pa's educating their pts one on one and that no PR campaign is needed to advance the profession. that's worked really well over the last 40 years.....maybe time to try something else like investing in name recognition....aapa had to lay off several staff members last month due to insufficient funds to pay them. this will continue and worsen unless they start listening to their membership. the fact remains that the vast majority of american's still don't know what a pa is, what our education entails, or what we do. a few years ago a poll done by aapa asking american's what a pa was confirmed this. Most peiole when they hear "physician assistant" think "medical assistant". only aapa leadership was surprised by the results. pa's in the trenches already know that we work in a vacuum. they then ignored the results of their own survey! I would probably be happy if the aapa would promote the name we have now and get folks to understand our current role in healthcare. The DO's did it with a smaller membership and less money than we have. now everyone knows they are fully credentialed physicians and not just chiropractors with a few extra skills. I think the aapa is about to get a big shock in the next few weeks. organizations that don't listen to their members lose those members. The np's are wiping the table with us. we are left out of most major legislation and not even considered a big enough factor to be included by workforce studies on the future of american medicine like that done recently by the IOM praising np's and calling for an expanison of their practice rights. The name change committee is still at work. initiatives are underway. we gain important and influential supporters every day. high ranking military officers, directors of pa programs, founding members of the pa profession, etc for anyone who thinks "assistant" isn't a problem take a look at this thread at sdn. it was started by a supportive physician and quickly became "assistant bashing". these are medstudents, residents, and docs who we will have to work with someday: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=934124 more to come. Keep the faith. That is all. Emedpa, DFAAPA Proud member, PA Name change Committee Doctoral Student, Health Science & Global Health Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primadonna22274 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Excellent news. Well done MAPA! p.s. I too was an AAPA member from 97-09...but when I had a new job that didn't pay dues (PA education ironically) and had to decide whether it was worth paying them myself I did the analysis and determined it was not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 p.s. I too was an AAPA member from 97-09...but when I had a new job that didn't pay dues (PA education ironically) and had to decide whether it was worth paying them myself I did the analysis and determined it was not. this "analysis" is being done everyday by pa's receiving their ever increasing dues statements who are making the decision that their investment is not earning returns...if there isn't a major change in the attitude of the aapa board soon I predict a 15% membership decrease by the end of 2013 and more every year thereafter until we become another ama(american medical assoc.) with 10% of pa's who are members of the aapa.... I don't want to see this happen but it is the natural consequence of ignoring your membership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgdog Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 If there is no name change I will cancel my membership too. AAPA=joke Solidarity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 4, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 4, 2012 if there is no name change i will cancel my membership too. Aapa=joke solidarity! hold off on that for now. That's the last move, not the first... I am not advocating that anyone pull their support from the aapa yet. please contact the president of the aapa and ask him to authorize an independent group to examine the ramifications of name change as requested by the name change committee: President James E. Delaney, PA-C Allen, Texas jedelaneypac@msn.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Amazing work Massachusetts! Congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsfelder0417 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Great news and wow what a malignant thread that e linked to over at SDN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnpac Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 First congratulations to MAPA on a job well done. As a veteran of legislative affairs, I know first hand how much work it takes to push the legislative agenda forward. Some comments. a former aapa president who is against name change still tried to make the case for an independent committee to investigate name change and was voted down. a 2 term president of the aapa spoke on the importance of name change for the future of the profession and was ignored. the testimony of a single pa that 2 docs she knew were against it counted more than the 6500 folks and a majority of pa's asking for name change. 36 states had a clear majority in favor. It is ok to use my name. :-) It was not as simple as that at the House. I did my level best to convince the House that we needed to address this issue, and I failed. It wasn't because of a single PA's testimony, or mine. This issue was passionately debated for hours by scores of PAs. The proponents of studying this issue didn't overcome the opponents because the quality of evidence didn't support a majority vote in favor by the delegates elected by the members of the AAPA. Simple as that. You can read into that what ever you want, but I was there. ...the aapa's stance is that pa advancement should come from pa's educating their pts one on one and that no PR campaign is needed to advance the profession. that's worked really well over the last 40 years.....maybe time to try something else like investing in name recognition....aapa had to lay off several staff members last month due to insufficient funds to pay them. this will continue and worsen unless they start listening to their membership. I really get weary of your misinformation that the AAPA doesn't have PR activities beyond "one-on-one" patient education. Let's be clear. The AAPA's PR activities are not consistent with what you think should be done. Don't say that the AAPA has not been educating the public about the role of PAs in the health care system, because it is flat not true. I'm not going to repeat my evidence and experience to the contrary here for the umpteenth time, just click on my name and read my numerous past posts on this subject for many examples of effective PR activities by staff and leaders over decades on behalf of the profession. The DO's did it with a smaller membership and less money than we have. now everyone knows they are fully credentialed physicians and not just chiropractors with a few extra skills.I think the aapa is about to get a big shock in the next few weeks. organizations that don't listen to their members lose those members. You keep repeating the above, but do not provide one shredlette of evidence that the above is true. I never saw ANY PR on behalf of the DOs. I don't know anyone who has except you. "Everyone" knows what a doctor of osteopathy is? Right. Prove it. The average person on the street or in our ED sees a MD, DO, PA or NP and sees a "physician." If you ask the average person on the street what is a doctor of osteopathy without context, and the last thing they would guess is physician. The np's are wiping the table with us. we are left out of most major legislation and not even considered a big enough factor to be included by workforce studies on the future of american medicine like that done recently by the IOM praising np's and calling for an expanison of their practice rights. A guess that the Affordable Care Act doesn't constitute "major" legislation in your book. I get tired of repeating this but the reasons that the NPs are successful legislatively numbers 2.7 million. Considering our size as a profession, I consider our impact legislatively well beyond expectations consider our numbers. Like MAPA.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted August 8, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 8, 2012 Welcome back Steve. I was a bit hot under the collar when I last posted in this thread due to recent direct contact with members of the BOD. let's just say they were not at all reasonable or receptive to conversation....and unfortunately I think their lack of communication will likely result in a big loss of aapa members in the near future..... I agree that aapa has done some good things for the profession over the years and it may be my personal hangup but they haven't done a lot of things that I have asked them to do or that I think are important. I am still a member at the present time. I don't think I am alone in my disappointment over many of these issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnpac Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Welcome back Steve.I was a bit hot under the collar when I last posted in this thread due to recent direct contact with members of the BOD. let's just say they were not at all reasonable or receptive to conversation....and unfortunately I think their lack of communication will likely result in a big loss of aapa members in the near future..... I agree that aapa has done some good things for the profession over the years and it may be my personal hangup but they haven't done a lot of things that I have asked them to do or that I think are important. I am still a member at the present time. I don't think I am alone in my disappointment over many of these issues. It is good to be back and I have been monitoring but not participating as work has been a killer over the last couple of months. I honestly think that there is more to it than whether or not the AAPA supports changing the title. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the paradigm of the traditional member organization just doesn't fit the wants, needs and preferences of the majority of young PAs. When you research this, all member organizations of all types are struggling to maintain members and to recruit new ones. Even if the AAPA embraced a title change, I don't think that it would make any difference in this trend whatsoever. The PA of today has a great practice environment and high demand; and they haven't seen (nor do they care about) what it took to get here. They think that it will last forever. One of my duties as past past president was to host the past presidents dinner at Toronto. The new CEO of the AAPA Jenna Dorn was asked to present to us her strategic vision of the AAPA and member organizations in the 21st century. It was an excellent look at her thinking, and she has a wealth of experience, interestingly, none of which is in medical organizations (this may well be plus!). She clearly recognizes the trends and their causes. It will be interesting to see if she can provide the leadership necessary to buck the trends. Being a member of the AAPA, CAPA, etc. is not about what I want, but what is right for the profession, and standing together in solidarity as a small fish in a big pond. All the dues that I pay to all the member organizations annually is but a fraction of one percent of my current annual salary, and I consider it money well spent. If the matter of the title change is so important to people that they would resign from their professional organizations over this one issue, then so be it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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