PA Scope of Practice Laws and Risk of Patient Harm

The Journal of Medical Regulation published a study measuring patient harm in states with permissive compared to restrictive PA scope of practice laws and regulations.

Rates of patient harm were assessed using medical malpractice payment reports (MMPR) between 2010 and 2019.

Article highlights:

• States with more permissive PA practice laws did not have higher rates of MMPRs than states with more restrictive laws.
• More permissive PA practice laws did not affect the occurrence of MMPRs for PAs and decreased the risk of MMPRs for physicians.

The authors conclude that eliminating restrictive PA practice laws does not result in poor patient outcomes.

Read the full article here.

Nikki Rataj Casady, DMSc, PA-C
email@appcolleague.org