(a)

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 63-19-106

  • Board: means the board of physician assistants, created by §. See Tennessee Code 63-19-102
  • Physician: means an individual lawfully licensed to practice medicine and surgery pursuant to chapter 6 of this title, osteopathic medicine pursuant to chapter 9 of this title, or podiatry pursuant to chapter 3 of this title. See Tennessee Code 63-19-102
  • Physician assistant: means an individual who is licensed to render services, whether diagnostic or therapeutic, that are acts constituting the practice of medicine or osteopathic medicine and who meets the qualifications defined in this part. See Tennessee Code 63-19-102
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) A physician assistant is authorized to perform selected medical services only in collaboration with a licensed physician.
(2) Collaboration requires active and continuous overview of the physician assistant‘s activities to ensure that the physician’s directions and advice are in fact implemented, but does not require the continuous and constant physical presence of the collaborating physician. The board of medical examiners and board of physician assistants shall adopt regulations governing the collaborating physician’s personal review of historical, physical, and therapeutic data contained in the charts of patients examined by the physician assistant. Until the rules are jointly adopted by the board of physician assistants and the board of medical examiners, the rules jointly adopted by the committee on physician assistants and the board of medical examiners in effect as of December 31, 2020, remain in effect.
(3) The range of services that may be provided by a physician assistant must be set forth in a written protocol, jointly developed by the collaborating physician and the physician assistant. The protocol must also contain a discussion of the problems and conditions likely to be encountered by the physician assistant and the appropriate treatment for these problems and conditions. The physician assistant shall maintain the protocol at the physician assistant’s practice location and shall make the protocol available upon request by the board of medical examiners, board of physician assistants, or the authorized agents of the boards.
(4) A physician assistant may perform only those tasks that are within the physician assistant’s range of skills and competence, that are within the usual scope of practice of the collaborating physician, and that are consistent with the protection of the health and well-being of the patients.
(5) The physician assistant may render emergency medical service in accordance with guidelines previously established by the collaborating physician pending the arrival of a responsible physician in cases where immediate diagnosis and treatment are necessary to avoid disability or death.
(b) A physician assistant shall, at all times, practice in collaboration with a licensed physician who has control of and responsibility for the services provided by the physician assistant and the duty of assuring that there is a proper collaboration with the physician and that the activities of the physician assistant are otherwise appropriate.
(c) Rules that purport to regulate the collaboration of physician assistants with physicians must be jointly adopted by the board of medical examiners and the board of physician assistants.
(d) A physician assistant practicing in collaboration with a licensed podiatrist:

(1) Shall not provide services that are outside of the scope of practice of a podiatrist as set forth in § 63-3-101;
(2) Shall comply with the requirements of, and rules adopted pursuant to, this section and § 63-19-107 governing the collaboration with a physician assistant; and
(3) May prescribe only drugs that are rational to the practice of podiatry.
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