WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS

2019 WAPA Lobby Day

February 5, 2019 (Tuesday)
Please save this date and plan to join your fellow PA colleagues for a day on the hill.
Talk with legislators about issues important to our profession and our patients.
Columbia Room, Legislative Building - 8:30 am start time
Olympia, Washington

Register for Lobby Day

WAPA’s 30^th Annual Primary Care Review Course and Spring Conference

Save the Date!
April 27-30, 2019
Seattle Airport Marriott Hotel
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NEWS

AAPA and WAPA Update on Washington State Health Care Authority

Re: Physician signature required on prescriptions for Medical Equipment

WAPA and the AAPA are aware of the issue regarding the ordering of DME. We/WAPA and AAPA share your concern about the limits this interpretation places on the ability of PAs (and NPs) to deliver needed care to patients.

As this is a federal issue, AAPA  has been in conversation with the national nurse practitioner organization as well as  the American Association of Home Care (DME suppliers) and the National Association of Community Health Centers regarding this issue. AAPA plans to meet with national  Medicaid officials in the Washington, DC - area and discuss the negative interpretation that is being placed on ordering DME. The negative interpretation appears to be occurring in certain states and we hope to be able to obtain relief from an unnecessary and harmful restriction on PA scope of practice.

WAPA will be sure to keep you informed on this issue. 

Regards,

Lyn Storm, PA-C
WAPA President

 HCA Update: WSMA seeks delay in potentially burdensome HCA change to home health and DME orders

The WSMA is seeking to delay the Jan. 1 effective date of a new state Health Care Authority Apple Health (Medicaid) policy regarding home health services and durable medical equipment that threatens to increase the administrative burden on physicians.

As reported in the Nov. 28 Membership Memo, the HCA has amended its rules for home health services and medical equipment to align with federal law. Under the new policy, starting Jan. 1, only physicians will be authorized to order home health services and medical equipment for Apple Health patients—advance registered nurse practitioners and physician assistants wishing to place a home health or DME order will be required to have a physician's signature.

WSMA's concerns over these changes are essentially twofold:

• A requirement to have physicians review home health and DME orders by ARNPs and PAs to confirm medical necessity is administratively burdensome, adding more tasks for busy physicians to absorb, even if there is a mechanism whereby physicians can bill for that activity. This requirement impedes the delivery of care and appears contrary to the spirit of the current administration's "Patients Over Paperwork" initiative.
• The requirement does not appear to address the reality that here in Washington, ARNPs have independent practice authority, and in many practice settings, ARNPs in independent practice have little or no oversight by a physician and therefore are not positioned to comply with this requirement.

The WSMA is seeking an opportunity with HCA leadership to, at least, forestall temporarily the Jan. 1 implementation of these policy changes. This would allow time to explore with both the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the HCA the feasibility of addressing these two concerns in a more reasoned manner and timeframe, particularly in view of the holiday period when communications among parties will be impeded by vacation schedules.

We will keep you apprised of further developments. For questions, contact Bob Perna at [email protected].