WA state collaborative practice update

[alvll]

Message from WAPA:

 

My fellow PAs and supporters of PA collaborative practice in WA state,

Despite our best efforts and the groundswell of support, HB 1310 and SB 5633, establishing PA collaborative practice, will not advance from committee this year. We garnered great momentum going into the session and had a successful lobby day. However, this was the first year PA collaborative practice was officially considered by the Legislature, and it is common for legislation to require a multi-year effort to pass. We learned a lot from the session which will help our efforts next year.

Representative Marcus Riccelli, the chair of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, will support our efforts again next year and has said he will encourage WSMA to reach a compromise. We will have another opportunity to write a bill that reflects the reality of our collaboration, and that work will happen between now and next session. We will compromise when needed but never dilute our intent.

We are committed to advocating for PAs in Washington and ensuring that our voices are heard. We believe that this bill is critical for the advancement of the PA profession, and we will not stop working until it becomes a reality.  Thank you to all who volunteered countless hours in this effort. You are the glue that will keep this momentum going. We are not done.

We appreciate your ongoing support and commitment. We will be keeping you informed of developments as we work on the bill we will propose next year. 

 

 

Will keep everyone updated and I hope we all stay engaged! Current bills being passed are on their 2nd and 3rd year being in legislature so we know that it will probably take another year or two but its coming along! 

 

 

[rev ronin]

That's a bit fatalistic and negative of WAPA.  There are a couple of other important PA bills that are still in play:

SB 5310 / HB 1197 will expand the formal definition of attending provider for Labor and Industries to include PA care.  It's passed out of its initial committee in each chamber.

SB 5373 / HB 1495 dictates payment parity for PAs and NPs by insurance providers.  It's passed out of initial committee in the Senate, but has not yet had a public hearing in the House.

SB 5179 / HB 1281 would allow PAs (and NPs) to be one of two clinicians to sign off on medical killing of patients under state law. Hippocratic PAs are actively working against WAPA to defeat this effort to turn PAs from healers into killers--a role that is explicitly against current AAPA policy.

Unfortunately, we'll never know if WAPA's alignment with insurance organizations (through their various fronts) who want to kill patients off to reduce their costs, rather than Hippocratic PAs who aligned with disability rights organizations to stand up for the weak and powerless, prevented PAs from garnering support from pro-Hippocratic lawmakers who might otherwise have supported HB 1310/SB 5633. But, it sure would be nice if the next WAPA president doesn't bring such a pro-death agenda to WAPA's legislative efforts for the 2024 season.