Can a physician Assistant in a non-designated medically underserved area write presciptions when the supervising physican is not in the building?
First, to have the designation of a medically underserved area for the purpose of Chapter 157 Physician Delegation and Chapter193 Standing Delegation Orders — the area must be designated by either the federal or state goverment and appear on one of the official listings as such. It appears from your statement that this is not an officially designated medically underserved area. As such, you must use the primary practice site rules which allows you to prescribe when the physician is not present, because the physician’s constant presence is not required. However the physician must practice at that location at least 51% of the total time that he practices weekly to be designated as a primary practice site.
