ORS 677.515 Practice of medicine by physician associate; scope of practice

A physician associate may practice medicine by providing any medical service, including prescribing and administering controlled substances in Schedules II through V under the federal Controlled Substances Act:

That is within the scope of practice of the physician associate; and

For which the physician associate has obtained informed consent as provided in ORS 677.097, if informed consent is required.

This chapter does not prohibit a student enrolled in a program for educating physician associates approved by the Oregon Medical Board from rendering medical services if the services are rendered in the course of the program.

The degree of autonomous judgment that a physician associate may exercise shall be determined at the physician associate’s primary location of practice by the community standards of care and the physician associate’s education, training and experience.

A physician associate’s scope of practice is based on the physician associate’s education, training and experience.

The board may not limit the privilege of administering, dispensing and prescribing prescription drugs to population groups federally designated as underserved, or to geographic areas of the state that are federally designated health professional shortage areas, federally designated medically underserved areas or areas designated as medically disadvantaged and in need of primary health care providers by the Director of the Oregon Health Authority or the Office of Rural Health. All prescriptions written pursuant to this subsection must bear the name, office address and telephone number of the physician associate who writes the prescription.

This chapter does not require or prohibit a physician associate from practicing in a hospital licensed pursuant to ORS 441.015 to 441.119 and 441.993.

Prescriptions for medications prescribed by a physician associate in accordance with this section and ORS 475.005, 677.010, 677.500, 677.511 and 677.535 and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist may be filled by the pharmacist according to the terms of the prescription, and the filling of such a prescription does not constitute evidence of negligence on the part of the pharmacist if the prescription was dispensed within the reasonable and prudent practice of pharmacy.