Senate passes bill expanding physician assistants' practice controls, with safeguards and limits

The Kentucky Senate passed Senate Bill 116, as amended, which revises supervising and collaborative requirements for physician assistants (PAs) and aims to expand practice flexibility, particularly in underserved areas.

The floor sponsor said the committee substitute was reached after negotiations with the Kentucky Medical Association and the Physicians Assistants Association. The sponsor described the bill as moving from a supervisory model to a collaborative model used in neighboring states and said the substitute permits scope-of-practice decisions to be made at the practice level while retaining physician oversight.

The sponsor emphasized safeguards: the bill does not create independent PA practices, requires physician collaboration, limits certain activities to a 72-hour window before physician agreement is required, and does not permit direct billing by PAs. The committee substitute was adopted on the floor, and the Senate later approved the bill as amended.

Several senators explained their yes votes, praising the compromise and collaboration. The clerk recorded the final tally at 33 yays and 2 nays; the chair declared the bill passed as amended.

Clarifying details recorded on the floor include a $250,000 appropriation referenced later in a related joint resolution (see separate coverage) and sponsor statements that the measure was intended to help staffing in counties with few or no doctors. The transcript contains some fragmented phrasing about specific technical limits (for example, a 72-hour cap on certain schedule II actions before physician sign-off); reporters should consult the enrolled bill text for precise regulatory language.