Supervising Physician Scope of Practice Legality

[BBPA5991]

I am a part of a surgical practice and in very short succession over the next few months, the group will be losing both of the surgeons that have been my supervising physicians while practicing there. There is an additional nonoperative physician that is also an SP in the practice that is not leaving however the practice is wanting to have me see postoperative surgical patients (from the two surgeons) after the surgeons leave and I am unsure of the legality of this since it technically is outside of the scope of the remaining supervising physician (I asked them directly and they said out of their scope). With my scope of practice being dependent upon my SP regardless of my experience I am concerned that this would be an opening for malpractice. Thoughts? Will be discussing with the legal team at the facility as well. 

[Mayamom]

Have you spoken with the remaining physician about being your SP?   If he is willing to do this have a clear conversation about this.  Good idea to speak with your legal team.

[BBPA5991]

Yes, the remaining physician is already a supervising physician although is nonoperative and has said that anything post surgical would be out of their scope of practice. 

[Mayamom]

6 hours ago, BBPA5991 said:

that anything post surgical would be out of their scope of practice

This tells me if something becomes problematic you won't have any backup and this would not be ideal.   Not that you don't know what your doing but if anything is called in question you are putting & the SP are putting yourself at risk.  Ugg.....

[AbeTheBabe]

How long before leaving will the surgeons stop doing surgery?

You don't have to be a surgeon to manage a post-op patient TBH. I don't see why legally it would be an issue, you can always send to another practice if there is a complication, but no other practice is going to manage another surgeons post-op patients. What else would those patients do?

[jmj11]

Once, a long time ago, I started an urgent care clinic. It was in a building owned by an OB/Gyn (a friend). He was also going to be my SP. We met with some malpractice defense lawyers who said this arrangement was unsustainable due to the "out of scope of the SP." In the case of a suit, the patient's attorney would most likely use the "out of scope of SP" argument to increase their settlement. My Ob/Gyn friend argued that he was a physician first, then became a specialists (OB/Gyn). However, the lawyers prevailed and we had to change the arrangement (with a FP physician as my SP). 

[SedRate]

What is the specialty/field of the surgeons leaving? What is the specialty/field of the "nonoperative" SP? 

Which physician is going to take over the panel of postop pts, or are they asking you to do it? If the latter, no way. If the former and no surgeon is hired, they need to hire a locum tenens as no physician taking over might be pt abandonment. The practice must notify pts of this and refer pts to another qualified provider.