An excellent comment from Denise Curtis (a PA) from a discussion thread on the new regulation governing medical spas in Florida.

Dear MDMan,

All PA's are required to be registered with their state medical boards and by law are required to have continuing education. In NC, the requirements are EXACTLY the same for PA's and MD's, meaning we have to have 100 hours of Category I CME's every 2 years. Furthermore, PA's must pass a national certification exam before practicing and must sit for this exam every 6 years to maintain their certification. Physician Assistant programs now require a BS degree prior to entering PA school and then grant a Masters upon completion. Unlike nurse practitioners, PA's have always maintained their dependence uppon physicians. However, this does not mean that PA's cannot practice independently of their supervising physician.

It is sad that there are many places in this country where a PA is only health care provider willing to work for very low wages to provide basic health care the those rural areas. In those situations, the PA may be the only provider for hundreds of miles. With the passing of these bills not allowing PA's to see patients independently in medical spa settings are they then going to require an MD to be present in all of those health department and rural settings? Think about this for a minute. Basically, they are saying that a PA is not qualified to do laser hair removal but that a PA can provide health care in lower socioeconomic settings. In some of these settings, the PA's run codes, put in A lines, triage critically ill patients, only because there is a lack of MD,s willing to work in those settings.

Do you think this country can afford to put such restrictions on health care? Furthermore, do you think that laser hair removal is more dangerous than running a code?

It is always about the money and control!!!!!

Denise Curtis