You asked for a summary of recent legislation affecting physician assistants (PAs).

SUMMARY

Legislation enacted since 2000 has addressed the prescriptive authority of PAs and their offering services through a professional corporation, acquiring and dispensing professional samples of drugs, and working under the supervision of unregistered physicians under certain civil preparedness and disaster relief situations.

RECENT LEGISLATION

Prescriptive Authority

Public Act 00-205 expanded the prescriptive authority of physician assistants by (1) allowing them to prescribe Schedule IV and V controlled substances in all settings, (2) renew prescriptions for Schedule II and III drugs in outpatient settings, and (3) prescribe Schedule II and III drugs to an inpatient in a short-term or chronic disease hospital, emergency room satellite of a general hospital, or in a chronic and convalescent nursing home after a physician’s admission evaluation. The law, at the time of the 2000 act, continued to require the PA’s supervising physician to cosign the prescription order for a Schedule II or III controlled substance within 24 hours. Under prior law, PAs could prescribe Schedule II through V controlled substances, but prescribing Schedule II and III was limited to short-term hospital settings. (Controlled substances are grouped in Schedules I through V according to their decreasing tendency to promote abuse or dependency; Schedule I is the most addictive. )

PA 05-219 expanded PAs’ prescriptive authority by allowing them to prescribe and renew Schedules II thorough V controlled substances in all settings. The act requires that in all cases where a PA prescribes a Schedule II or III drug, the supervising physician must document his approval of the order in the patient’s medical record within one calendar day, instead of cosigning the order within 24 hours as under the prior law.

Other Activities

PA 03-158 added PAs to the list of professions that may offer their services through a professional service corporation. It authorizes a professional service corporation to (1) be formed solely to render professional services by a physician, with a PA or advanced practice registered nurse, or both and (2) have as its shareholders only people licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render one of the services for which it was incorporated.

PA 04-221 permits PAs to request, sign for, and receive professional samples of drugs the law authorizes them to prescribe. They can do this when delegated by a physician; in a licensed, nonprofit outpatient clinic; or in a state or town-operated clinic. The law already allowed PAs to dispense samples when delegated by a physician; this act specifies that PAs can dispense them only to patients.

By law, a PA must work under the supervision of a licensed physician registered with the Department of Public Health as a supervising physician. PA 05-259 allows a PA to work under the supervision of unregistered physician if the PA is (1) part of the Connecticut Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Medical Reserve Corps, or Connecticut Urban Search and Rescue Team and (2) engaged in officially authorized civil preparedness duty or training conducted by such teams or corps.

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