Practicing during a pandemic – Coronavirus/COVID-19
Since first emerging as a novel virus in December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus outbreak has quickly enveloped the world and, as of March 11, 2020, it was declared by the World Health Organization to be a true pandemic. Currently, there are over 118,000 cases in 114 countries, with 4,291 fatalities. In the U.S., there are 1,215 cases in 43 states, with 36 associated fatalities- and those numbers are growing rapidly. A few of the issues that challenge the response to the coronavirus outbreak are the variability of symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 in individuals, a shortage of viral test...
Idaho: Advanced Practice Provider Laws and Regulations
Physician Assistants Qualifications [IDAPA 22.01.03. Subsection 021.01-06]: Graduate accredited PA program; bachelor’s degree; NCCPA exam. MD Supervision of Physician Assistant [IDAPA 22.01.04, Subsections 020.01 – 020.06]: Supervising physicians must register with Idaho’s Board of Medicine and generally may supervise no more than three (3) PAs at a time. The Board may authorize a physician to supervise a total of six (6) PAs contemporaneously if necessary, to provide adequate medical care and upon prior petition documenting adequate safeguards to protect the public health and safety. The supervising MD must: Accept full responsibility for the medical acts and patient services provided by...
Alaska: Advanced Practice Provider Laws and Regulations
Physician Assistants Qualifications [12 AAC 40.400]: Graduate accredited PA program; current NCCPA certificate. MD Supervision of Physician Assistant: Collaborative Plan as defined in 12 AAC 40.410(a)-(j), in part: PA may not practice without at least one collaborative relationship that is documented by a plan on a form provided by the medical board. Must include: Name, license number and specialty of primary supervising physician, at least one alternate collaborative physician, beginning date of employment, physical location of practice, compliance with 12 AAC 40.415 as it pertains to a remote location, and prescriptive authority granted by collaborating physician under the collaborative plan....
Text messaging or SMS (short message service) has become the virtual default method of direct communication in today’s society. As regular mail and even personal emails are increasingly as difficult to find as needles in virtual haystacks, and there is less and less time for telephone calls, individuals who want timely responses are using text messages to communicate- and this expectation is present in healthcare as well. Consider the following statistics: 95% of text messages are read within 3 minutes of being sent. (Forbes) 98% of text messages are read. (Physician Practice News) 91% of US adults 65+ own a...
In an age in which most people have a recording device handy at all times, physicians may wonder what their rights and obligations are with respect to audio and video recordings in their private practices. It is clear that video recording, either by staff or by patients, should generally not be permitted in areas in which patient information may be exposed, but what about within the privacy of the exam room? California is a “two-party consent” state with respect to audio recordings. This means that in the context of a private conversation, both parties taking part in the conversation must consent to having the conversation recorded. Alaska, Idaho,...