IT'S TIME!

by Mike Funk, MPH, PA-C
FAPA President Elect

There are now over 5000 PAs practicing in Florida. Assuming that there is only one doctor supervising 4 PAs, there is also a minimum of 1250 doctors who have a vested interest in our success as a profession. It’s time we tapped our strengths and move forward at a pace that we decide.

There have been several issues that have been on the agenda of PAs in Florida for a number of years. Full prescriptive privileges and no co-signature of charts, like most other states, are two such issues. You might recall that a few years ago the FAPA leadership tried to get prescriptive privileges passed but were soundly defeated in the legislature. It’s time that we change these laws.

It’s time for us to take advantage of our strength. However, to accomplish our goals will require much more than the will of the leadership of FAPA, our professional organization. It will require the will of all the members and all the supervising physicians. Unless we take control of our future by taking advantage of our strengths we will be at the mercy of those individuals who seek to destroy our profession. Recent legislative efforts have demonstrated that those individuals are not rare and they are not without power. FAPA has played to reactive and defensive legislation and now it's time to move forward proactively.

It’s time. It is time for each one of us to do what we can to advance our cause. Each one of us must begin to discuss these issues with our supervising physicians. In fact, it should be those physicians who should be fighting the hardest on our behalf because they stand to gain the most from our success. They also stand to lose the most if these issues are negatively resolved. They may lose us!

It’s time. It is time for us to befriend our local legislators. This year all of the seats in the House and half the seats in the Senate are being contested. Now is the time for us to make contact with the candidates and discuss with them how we can help them and how they can help us. It’s time.

The ultimate winners will be the people of the state of Florida who will have increased access to the highest quality health care provided by licensed Physician Assistants.

In the next few weeks and months you will see broadcast emails from me requesting that you participate in several simple activities that will open the doors of communication between you and your supervising physician and your legislators. We are all counting on you. Your efforts will give us the strength we need to succeed.

It’s time.