24.156.1622 SUPERVISION OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

(1) A supervising physician may provide the following types of supervision to a physician assistant:

(a) direct supervision;

(b) onsite supervision; or

(2) A physician who has never previously acted as a supervising physician in Montana, as defined by 37-20-401, MCA, must complete the board-approved online training for physician assistant supervision and a certificate of completion must be submitted to the board office with the signed supervision agreement prior to the supervision agreement taking effect.

(3) The supervising physician shall communicate with each supervised physician assistant a minimum of once a month for the purposes of discussion, education, and training, to include but not be limited to practice issues and patient care.

(4) A supervising physician may supervise more than one physician assistant if the supervising physician:

(a) agrees to supervise more than one physician assistant by signing and filing multiple supervision agreements with the board;

(b) provides appropriate and real time means of communication or back up supervision for the physician assistants;

(c) determines the appropriate level of supervision identified in (1), based on the physician assistant's education, training, and experience; and

(d) assumes professional and legal responsibility for all physician assistants under the supervising physician's supervision regardless of the varying types of supervision.

(5) The supervision agreement and duties and delegation agreement must assure the safety and quality of physician assistant services, considering the location, nature, and setting of the practice and the experience of the physician assistant, and shall provide for:

(a) an appropriate type or combination of types of supervision identified in (1), including specific supervising physician response and availability times;

(b) an appropriate scope of delegation of practice authority and appropriate limitations upon the practice authority of the physician assistant; and

(6) The supervision agreement and duties and delegation may provide for periodic changes in the type of supervision, scope of delegation, practice limitations, frequency, and duration of face-to-face meetings, and percentage of charts reviewed, based upon the duration and nature of experience gained by the physician assistant, the supervising physician's written assessment and evaluation of the physician assistant's experience and judgment, and other factors relevant to the nature and degree of supervision appropriate to assure the safety and quality of physician assistant services.

(7) The duties and delegation agreement must be available at the practice site at all times and must be submitted to the board or its designee upon request.

History: 37-1-131, 37-20-202, MCA; IMP, 37-1-131, 37-20-101, 37-20-301, 37-20-403, MCA; NEW, 2006 MAR p. 1958, Eff. 8/11/06; AMD, 2012 MAR p. 404, Eff. 2/24/12; AMD, 2017 MAR p. 487, Eff. 4/29/17; AMD, 2021 MAR p. 65, Eff. 1/16/21.