Physician Assistants Can Help Remove Barriers to Care for Seniors

During National PA Week, AAPA Raises Awareness of Legislative Challenges
Preventing PAs from Treating Medicare Patients

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As members of Congress debate
what form a national health care plan should take, older Americans continue to
suffer the consequences of a physician shortage that makes accessing basic
care a struggle. Barriers to care could be greatly eased, however, by
legislation that lifts restrictions preventing physician assistants (PAs) from
treating Medicare patients.

PAs are licensed health professionals who practice medicine as members of a
PA-physician team and are qualified to provide much of the same basic care as
physicians. In many underserved communities, PAs are the only health providers
for many miles and provide the bulk of primary care to residents. However,
current laws limit their ability to provide much-needed services to Medicare
patients, like ordering home health care or durable medical equipment. Passing
legislation that lifts these restrictions could substantially reduce wait
times for medical appointments, reduce travel for seniors who are ill, ease
crowded waiting rooms and significantly improve the health of older Americans.

"Regardless of how health care reform unfolds, the physician shortage will
continue to present real challenges in delivering care to America," said
Stephen H. Hanson, president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants,
which this week celebrates National Physician Assistants' (PA) Week. "The PA
profession was created so that even in areas where doctors are few, patients
can have access to quality care. Unfortunately, Medicare patients are denied
this care because of outdated laws and unnecessary restrictions on a group of
providers that stands ready to meet their needs."

Rancho/USC California Alzheimer's Disease Center stands as a model for how PAs
can help expand services to seniors by working with an interdisciplinary team
of physicians, nurses and therapists. The practice specializes in diagnosing,
treating and caring for people with Alzheimer's and other memory problem
disorders.

"Medicare regulations developed in the 1960s are simply not compatible with
today's health care delivery system," said Freddi Segal-Gidan, senior PA at
the California Alzheimer's Disease Center. "I've seen first-hand the
unnecessary delays and disruptions in care that seniors face when PAs cannot
provide the services and care older Americans and other Medicare beneficiaries
need."

There are nearly 75,000 PAs in clinical practice today, and the Bureau of
Labor Statistics expects that by 2020, there will be between 109,000 and
142,000 practicing PAs in the U.S. There were nearly 245 million patient
visits to PAs last year, and PAs have prescribing privileges in all 50 states.
However, PAs are underutilized in the current health care system. According to
AAPA, health care reform that allows PAs to order skilled nursing facility
care and provide hospice care for Medicare patients would make health care
more efficient, cost-effective and patient-friendly.

National PA Week is observed each year October 6-12 by the PA profession. The
week serves to celebrate the significant impact PAs have made and continue to
make in health care, expand awareness of the profession and salutes the
outstanding growth of the PA profession. AAPA seeks to promote quality,
cost-effective, accessible health care and to promote the professional and
personal development of PAs.

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) is the only national
professional association that represents PAs across all medical and surgical
specialties in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the armed forces
and federal services. Founded in 1968, AAPA works to increase the professional
and personal growth of the entire PA workforce by providing comprehensive
support and advocacy for physician assistants so that they may, in turn,
provide patients with increased access to quality, cost-effective health care.
Learn more about how PAs are celebrating PA Week by visiting the AAPA news
blog: http://www.aapa.org/news/pa-pro-now.

SOURCE American Academy of Physician Assistants

Brooke Braun of American Academy of Physician Assistants, +1-703-836-2272,
ext. 3502, bbraun@aapa.org