Idaho State University

There is growing recognition by physicians, health insurance organizations and legislators of the value of physician assistants and other non-physician medical providers. Legislators are increasingly recognizing the importance and use of physician assistants in the managed care setting through a number of pending bills nationwide.

The use of physician assistants has increased over the past few years in large part due to the financial climate necessitated by our changing health care system. In short, physician assistants can provide high quality patient care, somewhat independent of physicians, and reduce the cost of delivering that care. In addition, they provide a very cost-effective revenue source for practices because the direct and overhead costs associated with physician assistants is low relative to physicians.