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Posted on 02/22/2015 2:04:33 PM PST by Lorianne
There is unprecedented demand for physician assistants as insurance payment and the Affordable Care Act encourage a team-based approach to managing the care of patient populations.
A snapshot of this trend can be seen in a new report by The Medicus Firm, a national physician recruiter, which said physician assistants (PAs) rose to No. 5 among its top 10 most frequently placed medical care providers in 2014, outstripping several categories of medical doctors. Primary care doctors continue to hold the top three spots with family physicians at No. 1, followed by hospitalist doctors and internists at No. 3.
Just a year earlier in 2013, PAs were at No. 6 following primary care physicians, general surgeons and orthopedic surgeons. And PAs didn’t even appear in Medicus’ top 10 list of frequently placed providers in 2012.
“PAs now make up nearly 7 percent of our total placements which grew from next to nothing, in a two year period,” Medicus said in a statement to Forbes. “And most of the PAs we place are in primary care roles, too.”
A physician assistant is nationally certified and state-licensed with a two-year master’s degree, often from a program that runs about two years and includes three years of healthcare training, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants. They work in doctor’s offices, retail clinics and other locations and their work includes diagnosing illnesses, writing prescriptions and counseling patients on preventive care.
Under the team-based approach, physician assistants are increasingly an integral part of accountable care organizations (ACOs) and other care models that contract with insurers, Medicare and Medicaid programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
One thing my wife and I have noted as a (temporary) “benefit” of Obamacare.
The doctors we visit are far less busy in the last year or so.
Both the specialists and our GP docs.
It’s obvious the ginormous deductibles in the latest policies have cut doctor visits significantly.
Division of labour makes sense in almost every business or profession. If a task can be done by a PA, why pay (a lot) more to have it done by a MD? Obamacare or not — if the same services can be delivered for less cost, then make the change.
I think PAs and NPs have an important role, but not as a substitute for a doctor when one is needed.
On the same hand, I wonder what’s going on with malpractice insurance rates since Obamacare has kicked in?
I`ve been going to a health center here for 10 years just for flu shots etc and my prescriptions coz it`s close by-and never been seen by a doctor, only by PA`s=.
The PA`s want to inspect me to see if I have any disease anywhere- They want to do all kinds of tests- They did the same thing to my brother who has nothing wrong with him.- All they want to do is do tests on healthy people to the get the money for the tests-
I told the PA when he asked me to have a heart exam- I said- “But I have cardiologist whom I see every year.” He still wanted to do the tests. These PA`s think they are doctors but they just want the money.
They are all quacks, wannabeedocs and health insurance racketeers...
It's like in my horrific hospital incarceration five years ago. They tried to bill the insurance company for a Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist (I have no clue what that was all about). The people who saw me were community college graduates who knew less than I do.
Doctors today see you only if there is an urgent problem.
Routine care is handled by nurses and PAs.
That’s the reality.
If I’m going to a doctor’s office/clinic, it’s because I need to see a doctor, not a physician’s assistant. No thanks on a PA.
You are grossly misinterpreting things. They are being told by administrative management to write scripts for in-house tests to increase revenue. Often will be terminated if they do not produce.
The problem that was supposed to be solved was: "Many people don't have access to healthcare."
Did Obama do something to build more clinics? More hospitals? More Med Schools? Did he do something to create more GPs? More Specialists?
Nope.
Instead, he gave a lot of people a piece of paper which says: "I have insurance."
Problem solved!
And out in the real world the only thing the industry can do is to shove a lot of PAs out on the front lines.
Nope these are for out of office and in-hospital tests- Everyone here I talk to is complaining about these quacks in cahoots with the hospitals- I suspect they are getting kickbacks from the hospitals for sending healthy people there for unnecessary tests just for the insurance monies..
As a long term medical person and as a nurse, PAs scare me. Don’t get me wrong, some are good, but some of the PAs I have met only think that they know what they are doing. Most should not be writing script. A NP is far more knowledgeable about medications and patient care.
One PA that I have encountered twice doesn’t have a clue about drug interactions. At some point in the near future he is going to kill someone. One of the times he not only wrote script for a pt that was going to cause a drug-drug interaction, he gave the pt a 30 days of samples of the drug thereby preventing a pharmacists from double checking his work. The patient’s family did check with a pharmacist before allowing the pt to take the samples, most likely saving that patients life.
IMHO at minimum, PAs should not be allowed to give out samples, unless the patient is already taking that medication.
Use as many doctors or specialist as you want, but use one pharmacist/pharmacy. They should know every medication that you take, including over the counter medications as well as vitamins and supplements.
My Cardiologist,a senior physician at three of Harvard Medical School's largest teaching hospitals,recently told me that he winding down his practice in anticipation of retirement.He said that he'll be taking down his shingle five years earlier than he had planned not due to health or money issues but because he refuses to put up with all the BS connected with ObamaCare.
But the “SAME” care and knowledge can NOT be given when one has to see a PA, instead of a SPECIALIST and I speak from experience !
Right you are !
Many, many doctors are doing the same; sadly !
later
PAs and NPs charge Medicare the same as an MD - I’ve been told.
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