PA meets with Senator Fischer’s office

Patty Scholting, MPAS, PA-C, Instructor in the PA Program, was in Washington, DC, last week for meetings with the Government Relations Committee of the Physician Assistant Education Association. Among the agenda topics was exploring barriers for PAs seeking to work in primary care. The committee is working with government officials to create more opportunities for PAs in primary care, such as supporting federal grants to PA programs that educate PAs for primary care needs, continued funding for the National Health Service Corps scholarships to help offset the expense of PA education, and promoting models of physician-PA teams that provide efficient, high quality care in primary care. A highlight of the meetings was the opportunity to meet with legislative aides in Senator Deb Fischer’s office (Senator Fischer was involved in the confirmation hearings for Chuck Hagel at the time). Patty sought Senator Fischer’s support to move forward on increasing the utilization of PAs in primary care for the state and received a positive response.