SB 1915

(May 15, 2020) This has truly been an unprecedented end to a legislative session and one we will likely never see like this again.  No committee meetings or public hearings on any piece legislation since mid-March coupled with a closed State Capitol, during a global pandemic is a definite challenge and a frustrating process.

Sincere thanks for taking action to oppose SB 1915. The bill ultimately passed the House and Senate but with very important, negotiated amendments to protect independent physician scope of practice. Physician assistants will not be allowed to independently practice and must have a practice agreement with an Oklahoma licensed DO or MD physician.  We swapped the word “supervision” for “delegation” but kept the same definition and rejected any meaningful mention of collaboration.

Unfortunately, we had to negotiate from the assumption that some bill would pass by the end of the week and we believe the strengthened language and clear definitions of delegation and supervision are about as clear as we could hope for under the circumstances.  We look forward to working with the medical boards this summer to draft rules to clarify the nature of this new arrangement.

We appreciate Sen. Kim David and Rep. John Pfeiffer working with us over the past week on this legislation to focus on their goals of allowing flexibility for the way physician assistants practice and are reimbursed, while preserving DO and MD practice rights in the state.

To read SB 1915, please click here.

 
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