2018 Indiana Code
TITLE 25. Professions and Occupations
ARTICLE 27.5. PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS
CHAPTER 5. Scope of Practice
25-27.5-5-2. Practice with supervising physician; examination by physician; supervisory agreement
Sec. 2. (a) A physician assistant must engage in a dependent practice with physician supervision. A physician assistant may perform, under the supervision of the supervising physician, the duties and responsibilities that are delegated by the supervising physician and that are within the supervising physician's scope of practice, including prescribing and dispensing drugs and medical devices. A patient may elect to be seen, examined, and treated by the supervising physician.
(b) If a physician assistant determines that a patient needs to be examined by a physician, the physician assistant shall immediately notify the supervising physician or physician designee.
(c) If a physician assistant notifies the supervising physician that the physician should examine a patient, the supervising physician shall:
(1) schedule an examination of the patient in a timely manner unless the patient declines; or
(2) arrange for another physician to examine the patient.
(d) If a patient is subsequently examined by the supervising physician or another physician because of circumstances described in subsection (b) or (c), the visit must be considered as part of the same encounter except for in the instance of a medically appropriate referral.
(e) A supervising physician or physician assistant who does not comply with subsections (b) through (d) is subject to discipline under IC 25-1-9.
(f) A physician assistant's supervisory agreement with a supervising physician must:
(1) be in writing;
(2) include all the tasks delegated to the physician assistant by the supervising physician;
(3) set forth the supervisory plans for the physician assistant, including the emergency procedures that the physician assistant must follow; and
(4) specify the protocol the physician assistant shall follow in prescribing a drug.
(g) The physician shall submit the supervisory agreement to the board. The physician assistant may prescribe a drug under the supervisory agreement unless the board denies the supervisory agreement. Any amendment to the supervisory agreement must be resubmitted to the board, and the physician assistant may operate under any new prescriptive authority under the amended supervisory agreement unless the agreement has been denied by the board.
(h) A physician or a physician assistant who violates the supervisory agreement described in this section may be disciplined under IC 25-1-9.
As added by P.L.227-1993, SEC.11. Amended by P.L.90-2007, SEC.24; P.L.177-2009, SEC.55; P.L.197-2011, SEC.120; P.L.168-2016, SEC.8.
