04-02-2025
Physician assistants try again for independence
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Physician assistants are once again asking the South Dakota Legislature to be able to practice freely on their own without being required that they have physician supervision.
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House Bill 1071 would give them that independence. The House Health and Human Services Committee endorsed HB 1071 on Tuesday by a 9-3 vote.
The full House of Representatives could vote on the proposal as early as Wednesday afternoon.
This is the fourth time in five years that the state lawmakers have addressed the issue. Previous attempts saw similar bills fail in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The South Dakota State Medical Association has consistently opposed the legislation. That was true again Tuesday.
'It's unsafe and it potentially opens us up to risks down the road,' Dr. Jennifer Tinguely of Sioux Falls, the SDSMA president, told the committee. She pointed out that physician assistants would be required to have 2,080 hours of experience, while physicians have 12,000 hour or more.
Republican Rep. Brian Mulder, the bill's prime sponsor, countered that South Dakota law allows nurse practitioners to be independent and physician assistants should be, too. 'This is a step in the right direction,' he said.
The legislation would no longer require the physician assistant to be an agent of the sponsoring physician. Instead, the legislation would let a physician assistant perform a 19-point list of services, including routine clinical office surgical procedures.
'When you look up surgical services, that's a pretty broad range,' Republican Rep. Rebecca Reimer said. Dr. Dan Heinemann, chief medical officer for Sanford Health, agreed. 'That's the issue right there – it's broad,' Heinemann said. 'That's our concern.'
Republican Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer asked physician assistant Kayla Frank of Sioux Falls which surgical procedures she performs. Frank said she serves on a care team and that she defers most surgical procedures to others on the team, but, she continued, physician assistants can perform surgeries such as removing skin tags and moles and suturing.
Republican Rep. Jim Halverson said his sister was one of the first physician assistants in South Dakota. He said Dr. Robert Hayes, after returning from service in Vietnam, started the training program for physician assistants in South Dakota during the early 1970s. According to Halverson, it was Hayes' vision that physician assistants would provide medical care to South Dakota's underserved rural areas.
Republican Rep. Josephine Garcia, a physician, said the situation was 'unfortunate.'
'I think it's not about the patient, it's about money,' Garcia said. She said insurance premiums wouldn't drop if the legislation passed but there be more use of emergency rooms from misdiagnosis by PAs.
'Our job,' Gibson said, 'is to protect the safety of those communities.'
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