State Laws

All states have laws and/or regulations regarding physician assistants. Although most states have similarities between their laws and regulations for PAs, and the trend is to have a more uniform set of laws for all states, please check with your state PA regulatory authority for the most current information. A summary of each state laws and regulations may be found on the AAPA web site: http://www.aaPA.org/gandp/state-law-summaries.html

All states require that PAs PAss a national certifying exam. A model law has been developed by the AAPA that is updated regularly, most recently in 2006, with the goal to standardize the role of the PA while in practice. Examples of standardization include licensing laws that a PA must graduate from an accredited PA program and PAss the national certifying examination. State laws and regulations help protect the physician assistant as well as the supervising physician, define their scope of practice, prescribing caPAbilities, application and renewal criteria, continuing education, and disciplinary action for violations of these laws.