ARIZONA REGULATORY BOARD OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS 20162017 Annual Report Patricia E. McSorley Executive Director Kristina A. Fredericksen Executive Deputy Director 9545 E. Doubletree Road Scottsdale, AZ 85258 2016 -2017 Annual Report – Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants www.azpa.gov ARIZONA REGULATORY BOARD OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS BOARD MEMBERSHIP The Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants ("ARBoPA") is committed to serving the public through the judicious licensing and regulation and education of physician assistants ("PAs"). Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute (“A.R.S.”) § 32-2502, the ARBoPA is comprised of the following: five PAs who hold a current regular license pursuant to this chapter; two public members who are appointed by the governor; two physicians who are actively engaged in the practice of medicine and who are licensed pursuant to chapter 17 of title 32, A.R.S., two of whom supervise a PA at the time of appointment, and who are appointed by the governor. We presently have two physician vacancies on the board. Of note, Dr. Geoffrey Hoffa served as a physician assistant member, and was Board Chair from 2012 until February of 2017. Current Board Members: Myles A. Whitfield, P.A.-C Patrick J. Van Zanen Chair, Physician Assistant Member Term Expiration 6/30/2018 Public Member Term Expiration 6/30/2018 Randy D. Danielsen, PhD, P.A., D.F.A.A.P.A. Vacant Vice-Chair, Physician Assistant Member Term Expiration 6/30/2018 Physician Member Term Expiration 6/30/2017 Gary A. Smith, M.D., F.A.A.C.P. Vacant Physician Member Term Expiration 6/30/2017 Physician Member Term Expiration 6/30/2016 Thomas E. Kelly, M.D. Physician Member Term Expiration 6/30/2018 Sheldon G. Liechty, P.A. Physician Assistant Member Term Expiration 6/30/2018 Carole A. Crevier For more information on individual Board Members see: http://www.azpa.gov/ARBoPA/About.aspx Public Member Term Expiration 6/30/2015 Jacqueline J. Spiegel, P.A.-C, D.F.A.A.P.A. Physician Assistant Member Term Expiration 6/30/2018 Page 1 www.azpa.gov 2016 -2017 Annual Report – Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants LICENSING The ARBoPA issued 328 initial PA licenses in Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2017, and averaged 13 days to approve a license. The total number of physician assistants presently licensed in Arizona is 2932, up from 2789 in FY 2016. Description FY 2016 Initial Full PA Licenses FY 2017 306 328 11 13 Average # of Days to Approve a License REGULATION The ARBoPA works to ensure the safe and competent delivery of health care to the citizens of the State of Arizona by regulating PAs under the Arizona Medical Practice Act. The ARBoPA’s Investigations Department investigates complaints and reports of unprofessional conduct regarding PAs throughout the state. When an investigation substantiates a violation of statute, the ARBoPA uses its authority to educate, discipline, and when appropriate rehabilitate physician assistants to assure their fitness and competence in the service of the people of Arizona. The ARBoPA 's complaint process is structured to ensure an impartial and unbiased investigation. The ARBoPA’s investigators devote much of their time to the serious responsibility of ensuring the public’s safety. Investigators specially trained and certified, examine complaints and through the collection of evidence, conducting interviews, analyzing data, and formulating investigative reports as a means to objectively enforce the appropriate Arizona statutes. PA FY 2016 FY 2017 Open Investigations 36 36 Average Days to Complete an Investigation 154 138 Total Number of Complaints Opened 111 110 Ultimately, the ARBoPA is bound by its mission to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Arizonans. The actions the ARBoPA takes are reflective of that mission. The Investigations Department opened a total of 110 complaints in FY 2017, compared to 111 in FY 2016. The Department ended the fiscal year with 36 open investigations with an average of 138 days to complete an investigation. Page 2 www.azpa.gov 2016 -2017 Annual Report – Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS Disciplinary actions taken against a licensee are public records. Ultimately, the ARBoPA balances the need for physician assistant discipline and remediation with its primary mission to protect the health and safety of Arizona’s citizens. Of the actions taken in FY 2017, there was 1 letter of reprimand, and 5 licenses revoked/surrendered. (See table below) PA FY 2016 FY 2017 Letter of Reprimand 3 1 Letter of Reprimand with Probation 5 0 Decree of Censure with Probation 0 0 Practice Restriction 0 0 Probation 0 3 Loss of License (Revocation/Surrender) 2 5 Interim Practice Restriction - ED 2 2 Summary Suspension 0 0 Inactivation with Cause 1 0 Denial of PA License 0 0 Interim Practice Limitation – ED 3 2 Advisory Letter 14 20 Advisory Letter with Non Disciplinary CME 5 1 HUMAN RESOURCES Please Note: The ARBoPA shares its employees with the Arizona Medical Board (AMB). The following human resource narrative is reflective of the Boards’ shared resources: The AMB had a turnover of seven full-time employees, one from the Support Services Department, five in the Investigations Department, and one in the Information Technology Department in FY 2017. This constitutes a 14.9% turnover ratio of the AMB’s forty-seven (47) employees. The AMB also had a total of nine contracted employees for FY 2017, with a turnover of four contracted employees, resulting in a 44.4% turnover ratio. This was comprised of three from the Information Technology Department, and one from the Licensing Department. Page 3 2016 -2017 Annual Report – Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants www.azpa.gov INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The Information Technology (“IT”) Department continues to serve the business operations of the ARBoPA by being a proactive leader, identifying issues and offering innovative solutions to enable the agency to accomplish its goals, and provide quality services to our customers. IT strives to provide agency-wide, integrated solutions with an emphasis on superior customer service and ensuring effective and efficient utilization of new and existing technology resources and investments. In FY 2017 significant time and effort was spent on protecting confidentiality and integrity while improving the availability of agency information resources. IT innovated by enhancing several network infrastructure solutions, such as migrating to a new email platform version. Furthermore collaborated with ADOA-ASET on a Statewide IP Address Remediation project, and implemented a new policy, the IT-003 System Security Maintenance and Monitoring Policy. Also, CIO, James Gentile, volunteered to sit on the state panel charged with selection of a statewide enterprise licensing vendor. The combined AMB/ARBoPA websites received a total of 30,981 views to the Meeting Streaming Media Archive. This figure includes both live and archived board meeting videos and represents of a significant increase (up 80%) over the last fiscal year. Meanwhile, the combined Agency database made advancement focusing on improvement of the overall functionality of the business driven application. The database acts as a repository for departments and a library archive. It is the primary application by which the Agency operates and through which public information is disseminated. IT continues to develop options, applications and technological methods to automate and streamline current processes. IT successfully balances additional ways to leverage the Web for online service delivery which promotes increased efficiency while maintaining a high level of security. Several projects currently being worked on include an online process for delivering licensee case files in addition to making enhancements for our licensees. We will also be looking at moving to the next version of this application in the near future. Page 4