Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners can enhance patient care in various ways. Whether you are using them in an institution, private primary care or in a specialty practice. Adding one of these extenders can create efficiencies in patient care and increase your capacity for patients. To review the similarities and differences between physician extenders in Maryland, see our table. Benefits include but are not limited to:

• Better patient flow
• Shorter waiting times for patients
• Extend care by improving access to patient services
• Frees up valuable time for the physician to focus on more difficult and critical patient care problems

Scope of Practice
By definition a physician assistant works under the aegis of a physician. The supervising physician dictates their state approved scope of practice. The physician decides what the PA will do in the practice (providing he/she does not exceed the PAs training or experience). The supervising physician may also not request that the PA perform acts outside the physician's own scope of practice. There is a broad range of clinical tasks that the PA may provide:

• Patient histories and physicals
• Diagnostic testing and interpretation
• Initiation and management of routine chronic and acute health problems
• Health screenings for all age groups
• Patient and family counseling and education
• Assisting in surgery
• Post-operative managment
• Acute care procedures in the ER, hospital and chronic care facilities
• Family planning including pre, peri- and postnatal care.
  

Salary and Benefit Structure
National survey data reveals a wide variation in PA earnings based on demographics, specialty practices, practice settings and on call scenarios. A survey of annual salary information for new graduates is available through the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). You may also contact local employers of PAs such as a hospital human resource department. They often collect data on various practices as well as have the most up to date local information.
Benefits should address vacation, annual CME including expenses, other paid time off including holiday and illness, health insurance, long term disability, pension and retirement plans. For private practices, benefits become more of an issue due to the smaller number of employees. More and more group practices are profit sharing or building in incentive practices. The latest survey of benefits is available on the AAPA site.

Reimbursement for PA Services
Costs for employing Physician Assistants can be offset and institutions and private practices can incur revenue if there is billing for PA services. Third party reimbursement for Physician Assistants has been going on for almost 30 years. Medicare reimbursement is in their fourth decade of recognizing and paying for PA services. They have been extending coverage. Private insurances in the Maryland arena have been slower to catch on but that often works in favor of the physician billing structure. Information can be found by asking medical billing companies.

Recruiting a Physician Assistant
The simplest way to find a PA is to use our website! You may also use the indicated links at left to advertise on a broader scope.

Credentialing a Physician Assistant
Go to our next section on credentialing a physician assistant.