New Law Permits PAs to Provide Hospice Care to Medicare Patients

Contact: Berit Mansour, bmansour@aapa.org

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Feb. 9, 2018) – This morning, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law two improvements to Medicare that represent significant victories for PAs and the patients they serve.

The first improvement will allow PAs to manage and provide hospice care to terminally-ill Medicare patients; another will allow PAs to supervise cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs under the Medicare program.

Specifically, the new law modernizes outdated Medicare law with language specific to PAs in the Medicare Patient Access to Hospice Act.

“Literally hundreds of PAs have made the case to members of Congress about the necessity to eliminate the unwarranted restrictions which have prevented PAs from providing hospice care to their Medicare patients. Too many PAs have patients that have been under their care for years who have been forced to choose between continued care and hospice,” said L. Gail Curtis, PA-C, MPAS, DFAAPA, president and chair of AAPA’s Board of Directors. “This new law will empower PAs to offer continuity of care at a time when patients and their families are most vulnerable.”

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