SB285

I support this bill!

Honorable members, HB 285 seeks only to appropriately represent what the current title of "Physician Assistants" does not - it states that we work with physicians as part of a team ("associate"/collaborate with) and not just "assist" them... This title change would in no way increase our status, change who the head of a medical team would be (still a physician), or give us an expanded scope. We only wish to be able to adequately express to the community we serve what we actually are - Physician Associates, trained in the medical model to provide medical care in collaboration with physicians as needed. I thank you for your support of this bill.

I have been a PA for almost 30 years and have been so much more than an assistant. I support the name change to more fully describe our role in the health care community.

As a PA this bill will help support the advancement of our work and keep our job title relevant.

As a longstanding certified PA, I strongly support this bill. The title change more accurately reflects our advanced degree, our important role in providing medical care, our prescriptive authority and our collaborative relationship with our physician colleagues. Joanne Gutt, PA-C, MSPA

I am a physician assistant in Manchester in family medicine. I attest the current professional title is very confusing to my patients. They often confuse me with a medical assistant and do not readily identify me as a medical provider. And if they do, they don’t realize that they won’t see a doctor after me (because “assistant” often indicates a supervisor or manager will come next). I think that this title change, while small, will create larger impacts in identifying our contribution to the healthcare field. As a provider that has her own panel of 1500 patients, I think a more respectful and responsible professional title will more accurately identify me to those I care for.

PAs are not assistants to physicians, we are advanced practice providers trained to evaluate, diagnose, and treat our patients independently! Our name should reflect that. To many people confuse us with medical assistants which are a very different role with different training involved.

As a PA-C for 13 years I support this change. The word "assistant" has never done the profession justice and not infrequently while I practice independently, after having worked dependently while being trained for many years by senior physicians, patients in the granite state may be under the impression that I can not function autonomously at a high level but within our scope of practice, that I always check in with the MD or DO, or in some cases that I am a medical assistant or far less trained than say a Nurse Practitioner, none of which is true. This can be disorienting and confusing to patients before, during, and after visits though I don't mean to say always or mostly but when it does come up it takes up our incredibly limited time in the medical clinic to try and explain that you will get best care from us, just as you do from MD/DO, because just like an MD/DO if we don't have the exact correct answer we will find that answer via consult with our colleagues or specialists etc. Insurance companies will often have issues with our billing because they are made to be difficult and perseverate on the word 'assistant' and often demand an associated MD/DO's name even if that MD or DO was not involved in care. With the passage of HB1222 having insurance companies reimburse our services without a cosignature will go a long way to helping us to provide unfettered care to granite staters. As PA bills are proposed it is always worth mentioning that none of the recent legislation is meant to change anything that we haven't been doing for many years and that there are no data that maligns us with respect to delivering excellent patient care and outcomes. This bill will help us to continue to do so with less headaches but not change what we are already doing. I thank you for your consideration in approving the floor amendment that was proposed so that the entirety and spirit of this bill can move forward and I hope this finds you well . Best, Jonathan Gott

Good afternoon. I just wanted to take a moment to write to you in support of SB285 relative to the title change from "Physician Assistant" to "Physician Associate". I have been practicing in Community Health in Manchester for the last 22 years. During these years I have had to explain many times to my patients that I am not the "doctor's assistant" but that I am a fully licensed medical provider that is able to diagnose, treat and counsel patients regarding medical issues. When the American Acadamy of Physician Assistants started to look at a title change prior to the COVID pandemic I recognized that this was an important step in helping our profession be better understood. Although many ideas were looked at ultimately the AAPA settled on Physician Associate and started the process for formal adoption of that name in 2021. Here we are 4 years later trying to bring our state in line with the national organization. I really struggle with why the NH Medical Society is opposed to this bill. Ultimately it does not hinder their ability to guide their members and is creating unnecessary anomisity amongst healthcare providers. There is a shift nationally when it comes to the provision of healthcare. There has been a slow, steady decline in the number of medical school graduates going into family medicine. My practice has had two open physician positions for over 18 months now that we have been unable to fill. During that same time I was able to hire 3 NPP providers (Nurse Practioners/Physician Associates(Assistants)) to meet the demand we have to provide primary care to the patients of our community. I am very thankful to work with a collaborative team of Medical Doctors, Doctors of Osteopathy, Nurse practitioners, Midwives and Physician Associates. I hope that you can put your support behind this important transition for our profession. Kristin Schmidt PA-C, AMD-NPP Amoskeag Health

We as a profession are simply aiming to follow the name of our governing body, the American Academy of Physician Associates. This does nothing to change any scope of practice within the state..

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