West Virginia Code 30-3E-12 – Scope of practice
(a) A license issued to a physician assistant by the appropriate state licensing board shall authorize the physician assistant to perform medical acts commensurate with their education, training, and experience and which they are competent to perform, consistent with the rules of the boards. Medical acts include prescribing, dispensing, and administering of controlled substances, prescription drugs, or medical devices.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 30-3E-12
- Boards: means the West Virginia Board of Medicine and the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- Collaborating physician: means a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatry fully licensed, by the appropriate board in this state, without restriction or limitation, who collaborates with physician assistants. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- Collaboration: means overseeing the activities of the medical services rendered by a physician assistant. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- Health care facility: means any licensed hospital, nursing home, extended care facility, state health or mental institution, clinic, or physician office. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- License: means a license issued by either of the boards pursuant to the provisions of this article. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- Physician: means a doctor of allopathic or osteopathic medicine who is fully licensed pursuant to the provisions of either §. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- Physician assistant: means a person who meets the qualifications set forth in this article and is licensed pursuant to this article to practice medicine with a collaborating physician. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- Practice notification: means a written notice to the appropriate licensing board that a physician assistant will practice in collaboration with one or more collaborating physicians in the state of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 30-3E-1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(b) A physician assistant shall provide only those medical services for which they have been prepared by their education, training, and experience and are competent to perform, consistent with sound medical practice and that will protect the health and safety of the patient. This may occur in any health care setting, both hospital and outpatient in accordance with their practice notification.
(c) A physician assistant with an active practice notification may perform medical acts and/or procedures in collaboration with physicians which are consistent with the physician assistant’s education, training and experience, the collaborating physician‘s scope of practice, and any credentialing requirements of the health care facility where the physician assistant holds an active practice notification.
(d) This article does not authorize a physician assistant to perform any specific function or duty delegated by this code to those persons licensed as chiropractors, dentists, dental hygienists, optometrists, or pharmacists, or certified as nurse anesthetists.