Administrator rev ronin Posted September 7 Administrator Share Posted September 7 (edited) https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WADLI/bulletins/3b38145 Some background: PAs and NPs were paid a fraction of physician reimbursement, but about 2016-17ish, NPs were upscaled to 100% of physician pay while PAs have been left at 90% since. It's actually a little bit more nuanced than that, because some things (e.g., clinical phone calls) have a physician and non-physician rate: Physicians get 100% of physician rate, NPs 100% of non-physician rate, and PAs 90% of the non-physician rate. I absolutely have a financial interest in this being adopted: me and the one other PA I retain as a 1099 contractor would get paid thousands of dollars more per year for doing the exact same work. Edited September 7 by rev ronin more info 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alvll Posted September 7 Share Posted September 7 How can we help? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted September 7 Author Administrator Share Posted September 7 37 minutes ago, alvll said: How can we help? If you're in Washington state, follow the link and provide email testimony in support of the repeal. That is, the proposed regulation repeals the 90% set point for PAs, so we're in favor of it, because if it goes away, we get paid normal rates like everyone else. Some of my talking points might be: * PAs are at least as well trained and provide at least as good of care for injured workers as NPs do. * By Incentivizing Washington PAs to care for L&I patients, the move will increase access to care. I turned away 3 new patient inquiries in the past week--injured workers are languishing without care, and Occ Med practices won't hire PAs because they don't make as much off of a PA as an NP. * PAs are some of the best attending providers for injured workers. We have an optimum combination of patient communication, medical knowledge, and efficiency. When the patient needs a specialist, we refer them to one... but we're generalist resources. I tell my patients "You don't want me doing your shoulder surgery... and you shouldn't want your orthopedist doing your paperwork!" Not that an orthopedic surgeon can't write a good activity prescription form, but it's not them practicing at the top of their license, either. * PAs are trained in the medical team model, so working with psych, ortho, PT/MT, vocational counselors, etc. comes naturally to us. We're not trained to be lone rangers; even though I have my own medical practice, it is part of an integrated referral ecosystem. * Primary Care PAs are able to provide incidental care to injured workers that keeps things moving smoothly, quality-of-life things that cost the State nothing yet increase injured workers' quality of life. * Since so many of us have non-medical prior work experience, we have a better foundational grounding in what work is and is not, and also tend to have a better fakery detector. But that's just my perspective. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted September 11 Author Administrator Share Posted September 11 Ok, mine's in. Who else actually did this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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