The Honorable Sara Feigenholtz

November xx, 2017

The Honorable Sara Feigenholtz

Assistant Majority Leader

Illinois House of Representatives

300 State Capitol

Springfield, Illinois 62706

Dear Leader Feigenholtz:

As a physician practicing in Illinois, I strongly urge the Illinois General Assembly and the Illinois State Medical Society immediately change state policies and regulations and eliminate the ratio of doctors to physician assistants in medical practices in Illinois.

Physician assistants are a critical part of medical teams, have a significant amount of education, training and accountability and increase access to medical care for rural and underserved areas of Illinois. The current requirement of one doctor collaborating with only up to five PAs has resulted in a crisis in medical care in Illinois because:

• PAs are not being hired in many cities across the state but hundreds of Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) openings exist at these same medical offices. A few hospitals are refusing to hire PAs at all. The recent passage of independent practice for APNs has resulted in the situation getting worse with the impression that PAs are saddled with too much of an administrative headache for medical employers. This competitive disadvantage hurts all PAs.

• PAs across the state have lost employment because of the ratio, especially in rural and undeserved areas. A PA in the Quad Cities was offered a job at a clinic and then the offer was rescinded because the state said the medical practice did not have enough doctors to match the ratio.

• There is no medical basis for the arbitrary five-to-one ratio and no major complaint has ever been filed with the state because of the ratio issue.

I am urging you to immediately change this ratio policy and regulation so that PAs can assist ISMS in the effort to continue to improve medical care in Illinois. Please call me if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Xxxx, M.D.

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