ORS 677.510 Physician assistant; collaboration with health care provider; collaboration agreement; pain management education

A physician assistant shall engage in collaboration with the appropriate health care provider as indicated by the condition of the patient, the standard of care and the physician assistant’s education, experience and competence. The degree of collaboration must be determined at the physician assistant’s primary location of practice. The determination may include decisions made by a physician, podiatric physician or employer with whom the physician assistant has entered into a collaboration agreement, or the group or hospital service and the credentialing and privileging systems of the physician assistant’s primary location of practice.

A physician assistant may not practice medicine unless the physician assistant has entered into a collaboration agreement signed by a physician, podiatric physician or employer. The collaboration agreement must include:

The physician assistant’s name, license number and primary location of practice;

A general description of the physician assistant’s process for collaboration with physicians or podiatric physicians; and

If the physician assistant has fewer than 2,000 hours of post-graduate clinical experience, a plan for the minimum number of hours per month during which the physician assistant will collaborate, both in person and through technology, with a specified physician or podiatric physician.

The physician assistant, or physician, podiatric physician or employer with whom the physician assistant has entered into the collaboration agreement, is responsible for tracking the hours described in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

The collaboration agreement must be kept on file at the physician assistant’s primary location of practice and made available to the Oregon Medical Board upon request.

Performance assessments and reviews of a physician assistant may be completed by the physician assistant’s employer in accordance with a performance assessment and review process established by the employer.

A physician assistant shall submit to the board every 36 months documentation of completion of:

A one-hour pain management education program approved by the board and developed based on recommendations of the Pain Management Commission; or

An equivalent pain management education program, as determined by the board. [1971 c.649 §7; 1981 c.220 §10; 1995 c.374 §1; 1997 c.695 §1; 1999 c.119 §2; 1999 c.430 §1; 1999 c.582 §4; 2001 c.743 §§1,2; 2001 c.987 §14a; 2005 c.366 §2; 2007 c.347 §2; 2009 c.595 §1054; 2010 c.43 §3; 2011 c.550 §3; 2012 c.34 §3; 2021 c.50 §6; 2021 c.349 §11a; 2023 c.314 §4]

provides: Sec. 9. Notwithstanding the amendments to ORS 677.097, 677.495, 677.500, 677.510, 677.512, 677.515, 677.535 and 677.545 by sections 1 to 8 of this 2011 Act:

A physician assistant practicing under a practice description approved by the Oregon Medical Board under ORS 677.510 as in effect immediately before the operative date of the amendments to ORS 677.510 by section 3 of this 2011 Act [January 1, 2012] may continue to practice in accordance with the practice description and is not required to enter into a practice agreement under ORS 677.510.

A physician assistant licensed under ORS 677.512 as in effect immediately before the operative date of the amendments to ORS 677.512 by section 4 of this 2011 Act [January 1, 2012] may renew the physician assistant’s license without meeting the requirements of ORS 677.512 (2)(c) and (d).