MAPA Submits Proposed Health Code Changes to the Governor The Michigan Department of Community Health, along with Governor Snyder, invited MAPA and other key health care organizations to weigh in on the Public Health Code (law) and suggest changes that will streamline and modernize the code. Lawrence Burns, the chair of the Public Health Advisory Committee and the body that is charged with the responsibility to collect all the proposed changes, said, As a valued member of the health care community in Michigan, your input is very important. I encourage you and your membership base to participate in this important project. From all the input that is gathered, he explained, a set of recommendations will be presented to the MDCH Director and the Governor. After those considerations are made, the Governor will work with the legislature to introduce bills, or incorporate into existing bill language, that reflect the selected suggestions. In response to the call for input, MAPA put together a workgroup to address the concerns that MAPA has with the Health Code. Im very proud of our workgroup and all the time and energy spent on generating comprehensive recommendations, said Jay Kaszyca, president of MAPA. The workgroup analyzed key areas of the Code that affect PAs and submitted suggested updated language and, in some cases, deletion of language. Most of the changes from MAPA reflected many of the components of Senate Bill 568, a bill introduced by Senator Jim Marleau. This keeps the recommendations to the Governor consistent with pending legislation, said Brian Gallagher, chair of the MAPA Legislative Committee. We want to ensure that there is continuity between the executive office and the legislature with SB 568 and the needs of PAs practicing in Michigan. The component that MAPA submitted for consideration are as follows: Remove language that specifies limits on how may PAs a physician can supervise Remove the apostrophe s from Physicians Assistant in the law Remove PAs as a sub-field of medicine in favor of a specific definition in medicine, as well as looking at terms other than supervision that would define a PA/physician relationship Add PAs as a Prescriber in the Health Code Allow PAs to pronounce death and sign a Death Certificate Remove language that allows PAs to be supervised by podiatrists The deadline for submission was December 13, 2013, but there is no indication, as of yet, when the Governor will arrive at specific recommendations for legislative action. In the meantime, MAPA is hopeful that this process will further encourage dialog between the Governors office, departments, legislature and the PA profession. MAPA will update the membership as this progresses.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 16:33:23 +0000
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