REGINA - The provincial government has introduced legislative changes that will create a new profession of physician assistants in the province.
The changes are coming to the The Medical Profession Amendment Act, 2023 which will regulate Physician Assistants under the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan and establish the scope of practice for the new profession, according to the province’s news release.
This follows on $1.3 million in this year’s budget set aside to create 12 Physician Assistant positions in the province.
In their roles, Physician Assistants are under the supervision of a licensed physician, with duties including such things as conducting patient examinations, prescribing medications, and ordering and interpreting tests. The province believes adding this role will help address the pressures in the health care system and help reduce wait times. The move is also in line with what other provinces are doing.
“This is another tool that we’re going to be able to have to help out our healthcare system,” said Health Minister Paul Merriman to reporters Thursday. “This is directly into the primary care. Physician Assistants are like an Army medic, they can triage, they can discharge patients.“
Consultations had taken place in advance with key stakeholders, including the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Medical Association, and the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants.
“It’s a matter of adding in another layer of primary care,” said Merriman. “This is something the Dean of Medicine brought to my attention and said we don’t have these, we never have. They’re operating in Manitoba. They’re operating in Ontario. We could look at bringing them in here to complement. There are several physician assistants that are across the country that we’re going to be recruiting. We’re going to be competitive with wages and we’re going to bring them in as fast as we can. We’ve already had some people reaching out."
Merriman said they are not only looking at physician assistants, but are expanding the nurse practitioners program at the same time.
“We’re looking at the scope of nurse practitioners, as well as advanced care paramedics and also pharmacists to expand out the scope to similar what it is an eastern Canada.”
When asked by reporters about the introduction of physician assistants, Opposition Critic Vicki Mowat had plenty of questions about how it would work.
“What is yet to be seen is how this is going to be operationalized. So who are the folks that are physician assistants? Where are they coming from, because we don’t train physician assistants in this province. What does the licensing look like? You know we’re still aways down the road on what this could look like. Ultimately, I think what physicians have been asking for is flexibility in the payment models and a move away from the fee-for-service model. Could physician assistants offload those responsibilities around administration to make that job a little bit easier? Sure, but this is a symptom of a bigger problem in the system where we need reform of the primary care system.”
Mowat expressed support for creating a system of team-based care which includes physician assistants. But she was skeptical that adding physician assistants would solve all the issues.
“ We need systemwide change. This could be a solution, but it’s a band-aid solution.”
In a statement, Canadian Association of Physician Assistants Director Saskatchewan Todd Brydon thanked the province for introducing the legislation.
“This is a vital step in effectively introducing PAs into the province at a critical time when the health care system has been stretched to the limit. Regulating PAs through the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan means that PAs in the province will be required to follow standards for competency, safety, and ethics like other regulated health professionals in the region. This ensures they are accountable for the care they provide, and the public is protected, further strengthening and lending credibility to the PA profession in Canada. PAs are an integral part of the health care team and will help enhance the capacity of our health care system.”
