Practice Management Alert

Question: I work at a sizable practice and one of our physician assistants (PAs) complains when we use “advanced practice providers (APPs)” in organization paperwork, saying it’s “imprecise.” This is what I see all over the healthcare industry, but am I wrong to use it?

New York Subscriber

Answer: In 2018, the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) released some stylistic guidance to talk and write about PAs, which backs up your PA’s complaints. The AAPA says that communications surrounding PAs should reflect that PA has become a standalone title of the profession, but you can use “physician assistant” as an initial explanation in parentheses. Additionally, AAPA advises against describing PAs as midlevel providers or nonphysician providers because the terms do not reflect the modern responsibilities and roles of PAs.

As for calling PAs “advanced practice providers” (APPs), AAPA says the term is both imprecise and used inconsistently. Using APP may also confuse people, as the term does not delineate respective roles’ scopes of practice.

The guide suggests using PA as an honorific, referring to a PA as “PA Sara Jones” or “PA Jones.”

You can find out more specific recommendations about language surrounding PAs here, www.aapa.org/wp-content/ uploads/2018/12/How_to_Talk_about_PAs_FINAL_ December_2018.pdf.