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A Partner in the Business: Practices see mid-level providers as valuable additions

by Gretchen Henkel •

With five years’ orthopedic experience, Lindsey Leonard, PA-C, “was used to working hard in a busy practice,” Dr. Sillers said. He now sees patients in concert with Leonard and finds that the setup is working well. Due to Dr. Sillers’ payer environment, Leonard does not see patients independently. (Many of the Blue Cross plans, prevalent in his area, do not reimburse PA services directly.) Her typical duties, according to Dr. Sillers, include obtaining the history and performing the basic physical examination of new and established patients, reviewing test results, responding to telephone calls and elaborating on options discussed and recommended by Dr. Sillers.

The Training Question

Nurse practitioners complete two additional years of education and training to obtain their designation. The average physician assistant program is 27 months, at the end of which PAs must pass a certifying examination. NPs and PAs are then trained by the physicians who employ them, much in the way residents learn on the job. In an academic setting, NPs and PAs may train specifically in ENT. Many NPs may be members of the Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Nurses and acquire additional training by taking both physician and nursing CME courses.

The American Academy of Physician Assistants and the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery will co-sponsor a live CME program for physician assistants that will roll out in 2011, said Jose C. Mercado, MMS, PA-C, president of the Society of Physician Assistants in Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.

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