State

AAPA’s Outreach and Advocacy Awards honors organizations for their outstanding programs, projects, and initiatives. This year, the Association of PAs in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, the Society of Point of Care Ultrasound, and the Ohio Association of PAs received awards for their exemplary contributions to the profession.

In July, Indiana will enact a new law that will make it the ninth state to move away from the term “supervision” to describe PA practice. The law also makes several changes to PA prescriptive authority.

Idaho Governor Brad Little has signed legislation that will add a PA to the Idaho State Board of Medicine. The Idaho Academy of PAs has sought this change for several years, and Idaho has now successfully achieved a component of OTP.

Newly signed North Dakota legislation eliminates the requirement that a PA have an agreement with a specific physician in most settings for nearly all PAs in the state.

New West Virginia law removes the requirement for PAs who work in hospitals to have agreements with specific physicians in order to practice. The law also removes physician responsibility for PA-provided care.