After receiving a letter from AAPA EVP/CEO Bill Leinweber, the American Medical Association issued a correction to an American Medical News article that contained innacurate information about PA scope-of-practice expansions.

From AAPA's monthly state government newsletter Legislative Watch:

American Medical News Gets it Wrong

The January 18th edition of American Medical News printed an article entitled, "Organized Medicine Pushes Back on Expansions of Scope of Practice."

The article included this information box:

"Nonphysician heath professionals continued to turn to state legislatures for scope-of-practice expansions in 2009. Below is a sampling of bills that passed.

Prescriptive authority/drug administration
By: Nurses, naturopaths, physician assistants, optometrists, pharmacists
States: Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma

Independent practice
By: Nurses, physician assistants
States: Hawaii, Illinois, Washington"

On January 19th AAPA EVP/CEO Bill Leinweber sent a letter to the AMA executive director noting the complete inaccuracy of the independent practice designation and the fact that the Illinois prescribing bill allows Schedule II prescribing by PAs only if delegated by a supervising physician. The bill had the support of the Illinois State Medical Association.
The offending language was removed from the AM News Web site on January 20th and a correction was posted on the 21st. The correction will also appear in the print version of AM News.

During a recent Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) meeting, the commission voted to award provisional accreditation to the following PA programs:

* Keiser University PA Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

* University of Pittsburgh PA Program in Pittsburgh, Pa.

* University of the Cumberlands PA Program in Williamsburg, Ky.

* Franklin Pierce University PA Program in West Lebanon, N.H. 

* South University - Tampa PA Program in Tampa, Fla.

In addition, the ARC-PA Commission voted to award accreditation to the following postgraduate PA programs:

* Arrrowhead Orthopedics Physician Assistant Program in Colton, Calif.

* Mayo Clinic College of Medicine Physician Assistant Program in Phoenix, Ariz.

Congratulations to the new programs and those involved in their development. Unfortunately, effective Sept. 25, 2009, Louisiana's Our Lady of the Lake College and Alderson-Broaddus College in West Virginia voluntarily surrendered their PA program accreditation with ARC-PA. Alderson-Broaddus was first college in the nation to offer a baccalaureate degree in PA students in 1968. 

To see a list of accredited entry level programs, go online to ARC-PA.