1 In this commentary, we argue that the Ontario government needs to do more to address these issues in a timely manner, or risk jeopardizing the future of the profession in this province. 1 Although the member census data demonstrate the largest number of PAs graduate from Ontario-based programs and work in Ontario, there have been challenges integrating these PAs into the province’s health care system.
According to the Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations at the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants (CAPA), as of July 2017, there were 587 PAs practising in Canada (personal communication, July 2017), and nearly 70% of them worked in Ontario. Since then, PAs have been integrated into numerous clinical settings, and PA education programs have been created at 2 Ontario universities (McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont, and the University of Toronto, which delivers the program in collaboration with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and the Michener Institute of Education), in addition to the Canadian Armed Forces PA program also located in Ontario. We have a very motivated MAPA Board for the 2021-2023 term.Civilian physician assistants (PAs) were introduced to Ontario’s health care system in a 2007 demonstration project, a joint initiative between the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) and the Ontario Medical Association. We have a plan to revamp our social media platforms moving forward with the help from current PA students. We have cleaned up our website and will continue to do this moving forward. Along with this, we will continue to send HOD representatives to the AAPA meeting to further help us have a presence on the national landscape. Our president-elect has made inroads with AAPA to give us a more national presence and to establish him with vital connections for when he assumes the title as president. Our new treasurer has completely revitalized how we manage our money and has made it easier for those that will serve in this role moving forward. Our current MAPA Board has done a great job of “hitting the ground running” upon election to their new offices. In doing so, we hope to also provide some clarity on false narratives that may surround our profession in this state regarding old laws, rules, and regulations. We also hope to promote the PA-physician relationship in the team model that is bedrock to our profession. Our goal is to make the public as well as those in the medical community more aware of who we are and what we do. You may begin to see some social media posts regarding this soon. While we are still in the planning stages of this event, we have reached out to AAPA as well as our partner, MSMA (Mississippi State Medical Association) to help us with this. The MAPA board is currently undergoing planning stages of a marketing campaign to further promote ourselves in the state. This would be a huge practical change for our profession and would make our requirements more in line with PAs in other states. The medical board was very open to our request and is in the process of reviewing our proposed changes. We also provided the medical board with a document comparing current PA prescribing requirements related to controlled substances in the surrounding states to Mississippi.
We proposed to match the physician requirement of 5 hours of CME requirements related to the prescribing of controlled substances on a 2-year cycle. We have recently discussed changes with the MSBML (Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure) to reduce CME requirements regarding controlled substance hours.