Page 16 - Part 1 Collaborating with Advanced Practice Providers - An Overview of State Rules

SVMIC Collaborating with Advanced Practice Providers

Physician Assistants) to be certified as a PA. PAs then must obtain
state licensure to practice. In order to maintain national

certification, PAs must complete 100 hours of continuing medical

education every two years and pass a recertification exam every 10

years.

Liability Risks

Before employing or entering into a supervisory or collaborative

agreement with an APP, the most frequently asked question from

physicians is: Does the employment or utilization of physician
assistants and nurse practitioners increase liability? There have

been numerous studies looking into the question. According to the

2012 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National

Practitioner Data Bank Annual Report, of the 12,152 medical

malpractice payments reported to the National Practitioner Data
Bank (NPDB), only 5.9% involved Professional Nurses, the

category including Nurse Practitioners. The most extensive study
6
on the issue was conducted in 2009 by researchers for the

Federation of State Medical Boards, which looked at claims filed

7
from 1991 to 2007 with the National Practitioner Data Bank.
"Seventeen years of observation suggest that, if anything, PAs and

NPs may decrease liability, at least as viewed through the lens of a

national reporting system," the authors wrote. "During that period,

there was one payment for every 2.7 active physicians, one for

6 National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) 2012 annual report.
7 Hooker R, Nicholson J, Tuan L. Does the employment of physician assistants and nurse practitioners increase
liability? Journal of Medical Licensure and Discipline. 2009;9:6-16. http://www.paexperts.com/Nicholson%20-
%20Hooker%20Article.pdf Accessed September 4, 2016.

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