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06/25/2010

Newsletter - June 2010

In this Issue:

OAPA has a New Look
New OAPA Website Launched
Medical Board Comments on Retail Clinics
Online CME Links Requested

OAPA has a New Look!

OAPA announced its new logo at the Pharmacology Conference in April but this is probably the first time many of you have seen it.

A committee and the board spent many months working with two graphic design firms that were charged with developing a new logo that would best represent OAPA to the membership, physicians and the public.  Both firms submitted logo ideas and made revisions at the committee’s request and one firm’s logo was ultimately selected by the Board.  OAPA offers a sincere thank you to the committee for all their time and effort on this important project.

New OAPA Website Launched

 Visit the new site!

A year in the making, the new OAPA website is now up and running.  It incorporates OAPA’s new image with an easy to navigate format that provides information for a variety of users.

For practicing PAs it has sections on licensure, prescriptive authority, state laws and rules, reimbursement and what OAPA is doing in the legislative arena.  These sections also include the latest news and information on those subjects.  There is also a newly revised “Links” section where you can identify useful links under various categories.

Students have their own section with information on student activities, student conferences, the mentor program and scholarships.

Physicians also have their own section where they can learn about the benefits of hiring a PA, how to find a PA and the process and paperwork for hiring a PA.

The site also provides information to the public on the PA profession and has a section for prospective students to learn more about becoming a PA in Ohio.

OAPA is working on future additions to the site including a blogging feature and an OAPA store. 

We hope that you will take the time to visit the site and we encourage your feedback.

Medical Board Comments on PA Employment in Retail Clinics

The Ohio State Medical Board (OSMB) has been advising private retail clinics that they could not hire PAs because language in the Ohio Revised Code limits where a PA can practice to where their supervising physician “routinely practices.”

Hospital systems in Ohio have begun to establish retail clinics and this type of relationship had not been addressed by the Medical Board.

OAPA asked the OSMB with regard to private retail clinics:

1.  Is there a definition of "routinely" and "ordinarily"?

OSMB response:

“Routinely” and “ordinarily” do not include a specified amount of time.

OAPA asked the OSMB with regard to hospital owned retail clinics:

2.  May a PA work in a retail clinic that is owned by a health care facility and the PA is credentialed to work there?

OSMB response:

Whether a retail clinic is a “health care facility” determines whether a supervisory plan is required or whether the scope of practice of the PA is determined by the policies of the health care facility.  Ownership isn’t the key factor. 

The Medical Board will look first to the ODH licensure application or the hospital’s ODH registration information to determine whether the retail clinic is included as part of the health care facility

Where the retail clinic premises are not clearly included in the ODH licensure application or registration, the Medical Board would ask for a writing from the health care facility that affirmatively states that the retail clinic is part of the health care facility as licensed or registered.  If the health care facility does not provide that written statement, there must be a supervisory plan.

 Online CME Links Requested

If you know of any AAPA or ACCME accredited Category I CME sites that you would like to share with your colleagues, please email them to oapa@ohiopa.com and we will add them to the website.  Pharmacology-specific CME would be particularly useful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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