As used in the Physician Assistant Act:
1. "Board" means the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision;
2. "Committee" means the Physician Assistant Committee;
3. "Practice of medicine" means services which require training in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease, including the use and administration of drugs, and which are performed by physician assistants so long as such services are within the physician assistants' skill, form a component of the physician's scope of practice, and are provided with physician supervision, including authenticating by signature any form that may be authenticated by the delegating physician's signature with prior delegation by the physician;
4. "Patient care setting" means and includes, but is not limited to, a physician's office, clinic, hospital, nursing home, extended care facility, patient's home, ambulatory surgical center, hospice facility or any other setting authorized by the delegating physician;
5. "Physician assistant" means a health care professional, qualified by academic and clinical education and licensed by the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, to practice medicine with physician supervision;
6. "Delegating physician" means an individual holding a license in good standing as a physician from the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision or the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners, who supervises physician assistants and delegates decision making pursuant to the practice agreement;
7. "Supervision" means overseeing or delegating the activities of the medical services rendered by a physician assistant through a practice agreement between a medical doctor or osteopathic physician performing procedures or directly or indirectly involved with the treatment of a patient, and the physician assistant working jointly toward a common goal of providing services. Delegation shall be defined by the practice agreement. The physical presence of the delegating physician is not required as long as the delegating physician and physician assistant are or can be easily in contact with each other by telecommunication. At all times a physician assistant shall be considered an agent of the delegating physician;
8. "Telecommunication" means the use of electronic technologies to transmit words, sounds or images for interpersonal communication, clinical care (telemedicine) and review of electronic health records; and
9. "Practice agreement" means a written agreement between a physician assistant and the delegating physician concerning the scope of practice of the physician assistant to only be determined by the delegating physician and the physician assistant based on the education, training, skills and experience of the physician assistant. The agreement shall involve the joint formulation, discussion and agreement on the methods of supervision and collaboration for diagnosis, consultation and treatment of medical conditions.
Added by Laws 1993, c. 289, § 2, emerg. eff. June 3, 1993. Amended by Laws 1997, c. 47, § 1, emerg. eff. April 7, 1997; Laws 1998, c. 128, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 1998; Laws 2001, c. 385, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2001; Laws 2015, c. 163, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2015; Laws 2020, c. 154, § 1.