Media Advisory
May 15, 1997
American Academy of Physician Assistants
Contact: Nancy Hughes Prior to May 22: 703/83602272, ext. 3505
From May 22 thru May 29: 612/335-6687 or 335-6690 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.aapa.org
Physician Assistant Profession to Debate Assisted Suicide and Other Health Care Issues
(Alexandria, VA) The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) House of Delegates will hear testimony and vote the last week of May on over 50 resolutions addressing the physician assistant (PA) profession and the delivery of health care in the United States, including a policy paper on assisted suicide.
The Academy's House of Delegates will be meeting in the Minneapolis Convention Center May 25 to 27. Testimony on the resolutions will be given on Sunday, May 25. The House is scheduled to vote on Monday, May 26. In conjunction with the meeting of the House of Delegates, the AAPA will host over 300 hours of continuing medical education seminars and an exhibit hall open until noon on Thursday, May 29.
The House will consider over 50 resolutions, including the following:
-- A resolution to adopt a position paper which provides a framework for understanding and discussing end-of-life decision making. The paper does not advocate assisted suicide. However, it states a provider who discusses or facilitates suicide by a competent, informed, terminally ill patient should not be subject to prosecution. Central to the discussion is that patient autonomy must be the guiding principle in all caregiving.
-- A resolution opposing any intrusion into the provider/patient relationship by insurers or legislators that inhibits the provider's ability to deliver appropriate and necessary medical services. Health care decisions should instead be made by an informed team that includes patients and their providers.
-- A resolution to adopt a position paper on ethics in managed care.
-- A resolution to adopt a position paper on managed health care and rural America, reflecting the changes that have taken place in rural health delivery systems with the advent of managed care. It also addresses the challenges of integrating managed care systems in rural areas and the importance of preserving existing rural resources.
-- A resolution to adopt a position paper on PAs and innovative solutions for rural hospitals. The paper provides information on two pilot programs that make excellent use of PAs to solve rural access problems.
-- A resolution to adopt a position paper on clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), which discusses how CPGs can change the way PAs provide patient care and encourages PAs to participate in the creation, implementation, review, and modification of clinical guidelines whenever possible.
-- A resolution that encourages PAs and their supervising physicians to actively participate in planning, developing, evaluating, and implementing performance reports and outcomes research.
-- A resolution that emphasizes that the physician/PA team is fundamental to the PA profession and that it is critical that this team approach be preserved as the structure of the health care system changes.
Copies of the resolutions are available to reporters by contacting the AAPA Public Affairs office.
PAs are licensed health professionals who practice medicine with physician supervision and deliver a broad range of medical and surgical services to diverse populations in rural and urban settings. For example, PAs conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, assist in surgery, and in most states can write prescriptions.
AAPA is the only national organization representing the 29,000 PAs who practice in all medical and surgical specialties, providing a broad range of services to both urban and rural residents.
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