by Adam Bartling
Eight students from the Yale Physician Associate Program (Marci Elpers, Lauren Bloom, Trisha Blake, Kathleen Marcinkowski, Adam Bartling, Catherine Schwing, Christopher Piel, and Caroline Argyros), along with Associate Program Director David Brissette, attended the Leadership and Advocacy Summit presented by the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) in Washington, D.C on February 4-6, 2016. Yale's student attendees enjoyed three days of informational sessions and participated in the AAPA's lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.
One of the most eye-opening sessions concerned the recent Supreme Court decision in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners vs. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The case stemmed from the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners attempts to prevent the operation of teeth-whitening businesses in that state. Dental boards, like many state agencies, enjoy exemption from federal antitrust laws when limiting competition in such a manner, a long standing doctrine known as state-action antitrust immunity. The FTC argued that such agencies are motivated to protect the livelihood of their members--not necessarily the common good--and that such agencies should be required to have oversight from the state in order to invoke state-action antitrust immunity. The court sided with the FTC, with the majority opinion stating, "When a State empowers a group of active market participants to decide who can participate in its market, and on what terms, the need for supervision is manifest." The court's decision has far-reaching implications for many, including PAs, for whom the decision will hopefully remove anticompetitive barriers to practice and expand patients’ access to care.
The most exciting events of the summit, however, were the visits to Capitol Hill to lobby for an expansion of the role of PAs in our nation's health care system. The first morning of the summit was spent preparing to meet with senators, members of Congress, and/or their staff to request support for two important issues:
- The inclusion of PAs as mental health care providers in any new mental health legislation.
- Allowing PAs to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid addiction.
Support on these two issues would help provide much-needed access to mental health services and Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction in the United States. The staffers that met with the Connecticut delegation were open to our requests and responded with questions that led to productive conversations. I, for one, was honored to be able to learn so much about PA advocacy and the legislative process while working to improve PA practice for my future patients and colleagues.