Connecticut Eliminates Ratio Restriction

Becomes 8th State to Achieve All 6 Key Elements!

June 21, 2018

With the recent enactment of Public Act No. 18-168 (HB 5163), Connecticut eliminated the restriction on the number of PAs with whom a physician may practice. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed the legislation into law on June 13, 2018. Through this law, Connecticut becomes the eighth state to achieve all six of AAPA’s 6 Key Elements of a Modern PA Practice Act. The legislation was an omnibus bill containing numerous recommendations from the Department of Public Health for revisions to Connecticut’s Public Health laws.

The provision eliminating the restriction was not in the bill as originally introduced. It was added in a late amendment that was the result of months of hard work and determination on the part of the Connecticut Academy of PAs (ConnAPA). It is also an example of how to achieve legislative success in the face of adversity. ConnAPA’s priority going into the 2018 legislative session was a bill to modernize PA practice in Connecticut (SB 300). As drafted, the bill would have made a number of improvements to the PA statutes, including replacing “supervision” with “collaboration,” eliminating the restriction on the number of PAs with whom a physician may practice, and removing physician responsibility for PA practice. AAPA submitted testimony in support of SB 300.

Unfortunately, the bill was met with great opposition because the state of Connecticut has a specific process for professions to pursue changes to their scope of practice and some viewed SB 300 as an expansion of PA scope. Undeterred by the opposition, ConnAPA met with the Department of Public Health to negotiate the amendment to eliminate the ratio restriction, something everyone could agree did not impact scope of practice. The change takes effect July 1, 2018.

In addition to eliminating the ratio restriction, Public Act No. 18-168 also allows PAs to provide oral health assessments for public school students.

For more information on Public Act No. 18-168, or PA practice in Connecticut, contact Carson Walker, director, constituent organization outreach and advocacy.