Physician Assistant Workforce—Indiana Perspective - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Physician Assistant Workforce—Indiana Perspective

Jennifer S. Zorn, MS, PA-C

, Jennifer A. Snyder, MPAS, PA-C, Tom Gjerde, PhD, Jennifer Burkhart, PA-S, and Lori Rosebrock, PA-SPhysician Assistant Program, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana

CONCLUSIONIt is important to identify baseline statistics of the current PA workforce in Indiana. This study will serve future trending studies and help shape workforce development, policy, educational resources, and legislative/regulatory issues regarding the PA profession in the state.FUTURE RESEARCHFuture areas of research in Indiana to further identify workforce trends could include:Role of gender and selection of specialtyImpact of the increase of health education programs on workforceImpact of health reform and utilization of physician assistantsInfluence of prescribing rightsImpact of individual programs on primary or specialty careREFERENCESBased on a 2010 roster review of accredited physician assistant programs, personal communication, Christal Ramos, Data Research Analyst, May 20, 2010.Wampler, K., and D. Fox. (1975). A survey of physician’s assistants in Indiana. The Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association; 68(7): 642 – 643. Chronology of Indiana Physician Assistant Legislative and Regulatory Action retrieved from http://www.indianapas.org/documents/INPAHistory0808.pdf on May 20, 2010. Database developed through public domain documents with assistance from the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, Indianapolis, IndianaIndiana Code Available at http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title25/ar27.5/ch5.html Accessed May 20, 2010Indiana Governor signs legislation allowing physician assistants to prescribe medicines. Available at http://www.aapa.org/news/media-resources/news-release-archive/56-indiana-governor-signs-legislation-allowing-physician-assistants-to-prescribe-medicines accessed on May 20, 2010 Inactive status was first used at reduced application fee in July 2007US Department of Health and Human Resources definitions available at http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage/ and http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage/muaguide.htm accessed on May 25, 2010

INTRODUCTIONThe American Academy of Physician Assistants estimates there were 88,771 individuals in the United States eligible to practice as a physician assistant (PA) at the beginning of May 20101 While PAs were practicing in Indiana by 19742, Indiana did not pass authorizing legislation until 19773PAs must first apply for initial state licensure to practice and then renew that license every two years to continue to practiceSince 1978, 1,140 licenses have been granted in Indiana4Indiana was the last state in the United States to grant prescribing privileges to PAs (July 2007)5,6Educational programs in Indiana—through April, 2010Indiana University, Fort Wayne, 1974 – 1977; 70 total graduates; CertificateButler University, Indianapolis, 1996 – present; 369 total graduates; BS—until 2007; MPAS—2008 to presentUniversity of St. Francis, Fort Wayne, 1997 – present; 261 total graduates; BS—until 2003 ; MS—2004 to presentSTUDY OBJECTIVETo analyze the physician assistant workforce in Indiana to show trends of practice, including demographics, distribution, and utilization of PAsMETHODSButler University Institutional Review Board approval was obtainedWe define primary care as family practice, pediatrics, general internal medicine, OB/GYN, and general practiceA database was developed through public domain documents obtained from The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, Indianapolis, Indiana Indiana State Department of Health, Indianapolis, IndianaNational Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, Johns Creek, Georgia American Academy of Physician Assistants, Alexandria, Virginia Indiana University, Butler University, University of St. Francis Descriptive statistics and frequency counts were performed by Statistical Analysis Software, version 9.2

RESULTS

DISCLOSURESJennifer A. Snyder, Associate Professor and Jennifer S. Zorn, Assistant Professor at Butler University received an Internal Lilly Grant from the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to fund this project

Supervising Physician Demographics

There have been 793 total supervising physiciansIndiana has a two PA: Physician supervisory rule at any one time:1 physician has supervised 5 PAs 7physicians have supervised 4 PAs34 physicians have supervised 3 PAs101 physicians have supervised 2 PAs531 physicians have supervised 1 PAGender: Male—90.5%; Female 9.5%Allopathic trained supervising physicians 94.1%; Osteopathic trained 5.9%

As of May 27, 2010, the number of currently licensed PAs in the state of Indiana:

770 active and 5 inactive7 license Of the active licenseGender: Female 505 (65.6%); Male 265 (34.4%)Median year of birth: 1974Median year of graduation from PA program: 2002479 or 62.2% have Controlled Substance Registration (CSR)Only two specialties have a greater percentage of individuals that prescribe than those who do not: Orthopedics and Neurosurgery

Current Physician Assistant Demographics

Number of CSRs by Program— Individuals eligible for CSR through April 2010

Physician Assistant Demographics, 1978 to Present

Most of the PAs licensed in the state of Indiana were born and educated outside of Indiana

Percent of initially licensed female and male PAs from 1978 to present within a specialty relative to all other specialties of the same gender, respectively

In Indiana, 92.2% of currently practicing PAs work in a Metro area; nationally, 84.9%

Percent of PAs with renewed IN license in 2008 in primary care is 24.3%; 35.7% Nationally

BLUE

: Active 2010

RED: All initial PA licenses, 1978 - present

Indiana PAs by County

The US Department of Health and Human Resources defines a health professional shortage area (HPSA) as having shortages of primary medical care, dental, or mental health providers, and medically underserved areas (MUA) as areas that have high poverty rate, elderly population, infant mortality rate, or shortage of primary care providers.

8