St. Paul, MN - Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives unanimously passed Rep. Kristin Bahner’s (DFL - Maple Grove) HF 3989 off the House floor. The bill makes technical changes to the state statutes pertaining to physician assistants, ensuring the profession is correctly referenced in the law to modernize practice regulations among physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. The bill passed on a vote of 134-0.
“This bill recognizes that modern medicine is often practiced in a system of team-based care, and makes sure the state statutes around the role of physician assistants reflects that as well,” said Rep. Bahner. “This legislation only provides for technical changes of a recent law and does not change the scope of practice for this profession.”
A physician assistant, or PA, is licensed by the Board of Medical Practice and certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. In 2020, the Legislature passed legislation to modify the practice act for physician assistants, changing how PAs are supervised. HF 3989 updates references in law connected to those changes, adding “physician assistant,” “licensed physician assistant,” “physician assistant services,” and similar terms to sections of statutes that give health care providers their rights, duties, protections, and authority.
Video recording of today’s floor debate can be found on the House Public Information YouTube channel.
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