How COVID-19 impacted legislative action on health care laws this year
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Hope Clinic physician assistant Matt Pierce, left, examines patient Luis Hualinga at the clinic in Midvale on Jan. 6, 2021. After a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Utah legislative leaders this session took measures to allow more mental health and medical providers to respond to the health care shortage.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY After a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Utah legislative leaders this session took measures to allow more mental health and medical providers to respond to the health care shortage.
Residents’ emotional distress level has increased during the pandemic due to various situational and life stressors including concern about job loss, physical health and social isolation. Many also need to “wear multiple hats” as their kids’ schools moved to remote learning, according to Rachel Lucynski, a director with Huntsman Mental Health Institute cris
After debates at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, the Utah Legislature passed a bill that will allow physician assistants to work without doctor supervision after a certain amount of hours in training.
Deseret News
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Hope Clinic physician assistant Matt Pierce examines patient Luis Hualinga at the clinic in Midvale on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Two bills to be considered by the Utah Legislature would broaden the role of physician assistants to let them offer mental health therapy and respond during a health emergency.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY As Utah and the entire nation grapple with a health and mental health care shortage in rural and underserved communities, one group of medical providers say they’re uniquely poised to respond physician assistants.
But they contend antiquated laws requiring them to work under the supervision of a physician are holding them back.
Letter: Senate bill would be a step forward for physician assistants
FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2020, file photo, Physician assistant Steven Oginsky, top, and registered nurse Kim Alder work inside the Hackley Community Care COVID-19 triage room at 2700 Baker Street in Muskegon Heights, Mich. (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP, File)
By Tim McCreary | The Public Forum
| Jan. 17, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
A recent opinion by guest writer Don Gale stated the importance of increasing the number of health care providers, such as PAs (physician assistants), in our state. To accomplish that, Utah must first make the most of our current PA workforce, and that requires updating our laws to better align with how PAs and physicians work together today.