Chapter 743 Oregon Laws 2001

AN ACT

SB 569

Relating to supervision of physician assistants; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 677.510.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. ORS 677.510 is amended to read:

677.510. (1) A person licensed to practice medicine under this chapter shall not use the services of a physician assistant without the prior approval of the Board of Medical Examiners. The application shall state the name of the physician assistant, describe the manner and extent to which the physician assistant's services would be used and supervised, state the education, training and experience of the physician assistant and provide such other information in such a form as the board may require.

(2) The board may approve or reject an application, or it may modify the proposed use of the services of the physician assistant and approve the application as modified. [Approval shall be valid for no more than one year but may be renewed annually.] When it appears to the board that the services of a physician assistant are being used in a manner inconsistent with the approval granted, the board may withdraw its approval. If a hearing is requested by the physician or the physician assistant upon the rejection of an application, or upon the withdrawal of an approval, a hearing shall be conducted in accordance with ORS 677.200.

(3) The supervising physician may have a different specialty from the physician assistant. A physician assistant may be supervised by no more than four physicians. A physician may supervise [two] four physician assistants. [However, in population groups federally designated as underserved, or in geographic areas of the state that are federally designated health professional shortage areas, federally designated medically underserved areas or areas designated as medically disadvantaged and in need of primary health care providers by the Director of Human Services or the Office of Rural Health, a physician may supervise four physician assistants.] The board may review and approve applications from physicians serving federally designated underserved populations, or physicians in federally designated health professional shortage areas, federally designated medically underserved areas or areas designated as medically disadvantaged and in need of primary health care providers by the Director of Human Services or the Office of Rural Health to supervise more than four physician assistants, and applications from physician assistants to be supervised by more than four physicians. A physician assistant may render services in an emergency room and other hospital settings, a nursing home, a corrections institution and any site included in the practice description.

(4) A licensed physician assistant may make application to the board for emergency drug dispensing authority. The board shall consider the criteria adopted by the Physician Assistant Committee under ORS 677.545 (4) in reviewing the application. Such emergency dispensing shall be of drugs prepared or prepackaged by a licensed pharmacist, manufacturing drug outlet or wholesale drug outlet authorized to do so under ORS chapter 689.

SECTION 2. ORS 677.510, as amended by section 1 of this 2001 Act, is amended to read:

(2) The board may approve or reject an application, or it may modify the proposed use of the services of the physician assistant and approve the application as modified. When it appears to the board that the services of a physician assistant are being used in a manner inconsistent with the approval granted, the board may withdraw its approval. If a hearing is requested by the physician or the physician assistant upon the rejection of an application, or upon the withdrawal of an approval, a hearing shall be conducted in accordance with ORS 677.200.

(3) The supervising physician may have a different specialty from the physician assistant. A physician assistant may be supervised by no more than four physicians. A physician may supervise [four] two physician assistants. However, in population groups federally designated as underserved, or in geographic areas of the state that are federally designated health professional shortage areas, federally designated medically underserved areas or areas designated as medically disadvantaged and in need of primary health care providers by the Director of Human Services or the Office of Rural Health, a physician may supervise four physician assistants. The board may review and approve applications from physicians serving federally designated underserved populations, or physicians in federally designated health professional shortage areas, federally designated medically underserved areas or areas designated as medically disadvantaged and in need of primary health care providers by the Director of Human Services or the Office of Rural Health to supervise more than four physician assistants, and applications from physician assistants to be supervised by more than four physicians. A physician assistant may render services in an emergency room and other hospital settings, a nursing home, a corrections institution and any site included in the practice description.

SECTION 3. The amendments to ORS 677.510 by section 2 of this 2001 Act become operative on January 2, 2006.

Approved by the Governor July 4, 2001

Filed in the office of Secretary of State July 4, 2001

Effective date January 1, 2002

__________