MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Organizations representing some health care professionals have plans to seek legislative changes that would offer more autonomy on the job.
The groups include health care professionals who help treat patients under doctors’ supervision, such as physician assistants, advance practice nurses and dental hygienists, Wisconsin Public Radio (https://bit.ly/2iAoIrH ) reported. The groups are considering seeking changes to state law this year to expand those workers’ duties.
Steve Rush of the Wisconsin Hospital Association said his group’s latest workforce report shows that the vacancy rate for physician assistants has doubled. Eric Elliot, incoming president of the Wisconsin Academy of Physician Assistants, said many graduates leave for states that allow more autonomy.
“The reality of our practice is not that we have a supervisor looking over our shoulder every minute,” Elliot said. “What we want to do is bring the legislation and the rules up to pace.”
Elliot said limitations and barriers to full practice must be identified if the team-based approach is going to continue to work.
Dr. Ken Schellhase, president of the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians, said his organization is waiting to see what a proposal for expanded duties would entail.
“I guess we want to make sure that any sort of collaborative arrangement is meaningful,” Schellhase said. “It is such a critical piece.”
The effort to expand the workers’ duties is also being spurred by a projected doctor shortage in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Dental Hygienists Association also intends to revisit supervision laws and highlight areas “where we have successfully been taking care of people - public health departments, public private tribal schools and dental schools - without incident,” said Linda Jorgenson, the group’s former president.
The Wisconsin Dental Association is open to some changes that would assist underserved patients but not directly compete with dentists, said Dr. Dave Clemens, the organization’s incoming president.
“If it’s a totally independent practice and they’re going to go out and do what we do with a very much shorter dental education, we would be opposed to that,” Clemens said.
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Information from: Wisconsin Public Radio, https://www.wpr.org
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