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Physician Assistant

By HerkB
  • Dr. Amos Johnson and Henry Lee

    Dr. Amos Johnson and Henry Lee

    It all began with Dr. Amos Johnson and Henry Lee “Buddy” Treadwell in Garland, North Carolina. Buddy Treadwell, Dr. Johnson’s “assistant,” was able to observe all of the procedures that Dr. Johnson would do and how he interacted with his patients. Soon enough, Dr. Johnson trusted Buddy enough to leave his patients in his care while he was off promoting Family Medicine with the American Medical Association.
  • History of the PA Profession

    History of the PA Profession

    Between 1945 and 1960, the number of insured Americans rose from 32 to 122 million. Access to medical care and insurance improved for many Americans, health care was out of reach for the country’s poor populations. The imbalance between the country’s number of insured patients and physicians widened further in the 1960s when American movements, such as civil rights, cultivated people’s beliefs that all citizens had a right to health care, which helped create the first national health programs.
  • History of the PA Profession

    History of the PA Profession

    To help remedy this, Eugene A. Stead Jr., MD, of the Duke University Medical Center, put together the first class of PAs in 1965. He selected four Navy Hospital Corpsmen who had received considerable medical training during their military service. Stead based the curriculum of the PA program on his knowledge of the fast-track training of doctors during World War II.
  • Medicare and Medicaid amendments

    Medicare and Medicaid amendments

    The federal government institutionalized these principles when it passed the Medicare and Medicaid amendments in 1965, which provided insurance for people who could not afford it. The two programs added a significant number of new, previously underserved patients to those paying for health care through insurance. This chain of events created a physician shortage that could not be filled quickly enough, and it led some medical professionals to begin exploring alternative solutions.
  • History of the PA Profession

    History of the PA Profession

    Technological advances of the post-war world drew physicians away from practicing general internal medicine to specializing in particular fields. This alteration led doctors to practice in hospitals more than private practices, which were often located in highly populated areas. physicians moved away from general medicine and private practices, their absence left poor and rural populations with little support.
  • Graduation

    Graduation

    Kenneth F. Ferrell, Victor Hugo Germino, Jr., and Richard John Scheele are the first PA graduates from the Duke University PA Program on Oct. 6, 1967. They begin practicing.
  • The American Academy of Physician Assistants

    The American Academy of Physician Assistants

    The American Academy of Physician Assistants (formerly known as the American Association of Physician Assistants) was established and incorporated in the state of North Carolina in 1968. Initial membership was made up of the first students and graduates of the Duke University PA program, among which were former military corpsmen.

  • Joint Review Committee

    Joint Review Committee (JRC) on Educational Programs for the Assistant to the Primary Care Physician is formed to review
    accreditation applications and make recommendations to the American Medical Association (AMA) Council of Medical Education.
  • First book about the PA profession is published

    First book about the PA profession is published

    The Physician’s Assistant: Today and Tomorrow, by Sadler, Sadler, and Bliss, the first book about the PA profession is published. Association of Physicians Assistants Programs (APAP) is founded in
    Washington, DC Alfred M. Sadler Jr., MD, is president. Federal support for PA education is authorized by the Health Resources Administration.
  • PA certifying examination

    PA certifying examination

    The first national PA certifying examination is administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME).
  • NCCPA

    NCCPA

    The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) established in Atlanta, Georgia, to determine eligibility criteria and to administer the national certifying exams.
  • Rural Health Clinic Services Act

    Rural Health Clinic Services Act

    Rural Health Clinic Services Act is passed by Congress and signed by President Jimmy E. Carter. It provides Medicare
    reimbursement for services provided by PAs in certified rural health clinics.
  • First master’s degree

    First master’s degree

    Duke University PA Program awards the first master’s degree for PA education.
  • Statistics

    Statistics

    There are more than 23,000 clinically practicing physician assistants in the United States. There are more than 27,000 graduates of PA educational programs.57 accredited PA educational programs exist.
    35 states plus the District of Columbia and Guam allow PAs to write prescriptions.

  • Medicare-covered providers

    PAs recognized as Medicare-covered providers in all settings at a uniform rate of payment for the first time in the history of the PA profession (Balanced Budget Act of 1997).
  • USA

    USA

    All 50 states now authorize PA practice.
  • Because of you

    Because of you

    The U.S. Virgin Islands passes legislation allowing PAs to be licensed to practice. Eugene A. Stead Jr., MD, a founder of the PA profession, dies at age 96 at his home in North Carolina. Robin Hunter Buskey is the first PA elected to the Federation of State Medical Boards. PA-like training programs in the United Kingdom begin educating students to become “new breed of provider” in Great
    Britain.