10/23/2026

HB 963 Spotlight: Removing the Geographic Proximity Requirement for Physicians and PAs

Ohio House Bill 963 seeks to align state law with modern PA education and practice, for the benefit of Ohio patients and healthcare teams alike.

This article is part of a series focusing on the 14 actions within HB 963 that modernize PA practice in Ohio.

Action:

Remove geographical proximity requirement for supervising physicians.

Rationale:

Supervising physicians are available in-person or via telecommunication. This update provides important statutory clarity on requirements for physician and PA interaction and access in order to provide optimal patient care.

Modern healthcare no longer depends on every provider being in the same building, or even the same city. A physician can review a case, answer a question, or weigh in on a treatment decision by phone, secure message, or video in the time it takes to walk down a hallway. 

Yet Ohio law still ties the PA-physician relationship to geography, requiring the physician to be “in a location that is a distance from the location where the physician assistant is practicing that reasonably allows the physician to assure proper care of patients,” even though the same law permits physicians to support PAs through telecommunication.

For rural communities, small practices, and telehealth-based services, a distance rule can be the difference between a clinic that opens its doors and one that stays closed, leaving patients to travel farther or go without care.

Ohio PA Dawn Russell, PA-C, has seen this play out in her experience:

"HB 963 makes care more accessible while keeping clinical support dependable. For a patient, getting to an appointment may mean finding transportation, missing work, or asking a family member to take the day off. Those challenges can be especially difficult when local healthcare options are limited. My military and civilian experience has taught me the value of knowing whom to call, communicating clearly, and recognizing when a patient needs additional help. Removing the geographical proximity requirement will help Ohio healthcare teams organize care around patients’ needs, available resources, and the experience of their clinicians. Physician access and timely consultation remain essential, whether communication occurs in person or through technology. This flexibility could help PAs serve more communities while maintaining clear plans for in-person assessment or transfer when necessary. Patients deserve timely care and a team that responds when they need it.”

Ohio PA Michael Schetter DMSc, PA-C adds his viewpoint as a psychiatric PA:

"The term 'collaboration' best reflects today's reality of how Ohio PAs and physicians practice together because it accurately describes a team-based clinical partnership. And like in many modern workplaces, healthcare teams collaborate across distances every day, thanks to telecommunication. That’s especially true in behavioral health, where virtual appointments are common and geographic proximity means little. Ohio can serve more patients, more effectively, by removing an outdated reference to an abstract, ill-defined distance between PAs and physicians that has no bearing on patient care.”

Removing the vague geographical proximity requirement doesn’t reduce physician involvement. It focuses the law on what matters, that physicians are accessible in person or by telecommunication and that PAs and physicians stay connected, so patients get optimal care wherever they live.

Learn more about this and other aspects of House Bill 963, and how you can advocate for PA practice advancement, today.