As used in the Physician Assistant Act:

1. 1. "Board" means the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision;
2. 2. "Committee" means the Physician Assistant Committee;

3. 3. "Health care services" 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 under the supervision and at the direction of physicians. Such services include:

   1. a. initially approaching a patient of any age group in a patient care setting to elicit a detailed history, performing a physical examination, delineating problems and recording the data,
   2. b. assisting the physician in conducting rounds in acute and long-term inpatient care settings, developing and implementing patient management plans, recording progress notes and assisting in the provision of continuity of care in other patient care settings,
   3. c. ordering, performing or interpreting, at least to the point of recognizing deviations from the norm, common laboratory, radiological, cardiographic and other routine diagnostic procedures used to identify pathophysiologic processes,
   4. d. ordering or performing routine procedures such as injections, immunizations, suturing and wound care, and managing simple conditions produced by infection, trauma or other disease processes,
   5. e. assisting in the management of more complex illness and injuries, which may include assisting surgeons in the conduct of operations and taking initiative in performing evaluation and therapeutic procedures in response to life-threatening situations,
   6. f. instructing and counseling patients regarding compliance with prescribed therapeutic regimens, normal growth and development, family planning, emotional problems of daily living and health maintenance, and
   7. g. facilitating the referral of patients to the community's health and social service agencies when appropriate;
4. 4. "Patient care setting" means a physician's office, clinic, hospital, nursing home, extended care facility, patient's home, ambulatory surgical center or any other setting authorized by the supervising physician;
5. 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 provide health care services in any patient care setting at the direction and under the supervision of a physician or group of physicians;
6. 6. "Physician Assistant Drug Formulary" means a list of drugs and other medical supplies, approved by the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision after consultation with the State Board of Pharmacy, for which physician assistants are permitted to prescribe and order under the direction of their supervising physicians;
7. 7. "Remote patient care setting" means an outpatient clinic or physician's office that qualifies as a Rural Health Clinic, Federally Qualified Health Center, other nonprofit community-based health center, or other patient care setting approved by the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, and which provides service to a medically underserved population, as defined by the appropriate government agency;
8. 8. "Supervising physician" means an individual holding a license as a physician from the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision or the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners, who supervises physician assistants; and
9. 9. "Supervision" means overseeing and accepting the responsibility for the health care services performed by a physician assistant.

Laws 1993, SB 334, c. 289, § 2, emerg. eff. June 3, 1993; Amended by Laws 1997, SB 59, c. 47, § 1, emerg. eff. April 7, 1997 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 1998, SB 1069, c. 128, § 2, eff. November 1, 1998 (superseded document available).