(a) Physicians who have complied with the requirements of the board, have passed a final examination, and have otherwise complied with the provisions of this act shall receive from the Commissioner of Professional and Occupational Affairs in the Department of State, or whoever exercises equivalent authority, a license entitling them to practice osteopathic medicine and surgery without restriction in this Commonwealth. The license shall be recorded in the office of the board in a record to be kept for that purpose. It shall be open to public inspection. A certified copy of the record shall be received as evidence in all courts in this Commonwealth. This section shall not apply to medical officers in the medical service of the armed forces of the United States, the United States Public Health Service, the Veterans Administration, or physicians employed within Federal services while in discharge of their official duties, to anyone who may be a duly licensed practitioner of osteopathic medicine and surgery in any jurisdiction who may be called upon by a licensed physician of this Commonwealth to consult with him in a case under treatment, to physicians of other jurisdictions who are training for certification in special departments of osteopathic medicine and surgery, or to anyone serving as a clinical clerk under the supervision of the osteopathic medical or surgical staff in any hospital. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to entitle a clinical clerk to practice osteopathic medicine and surgery or to prescribe drugs. A duly licensed physician residing in or maintaining his office of practice in a state near the boundary line between said state and this Commonwealth whose practice extends into this Commonwealth shall have the right to practice in this Commonwealth, at the discretion of the board, provided he files with the secretary of the board a certified copy of his license in the state where he resides, and that the board of examiners of the adjoining state reciprocates by extending the same privilege to physicians in this Commonwealth. He shall receive from the secretary of the board a license which shall automatically become null and void whenever he changes his residence or office of practice. A record of all persons so licensed shall be kept in the office of the board and shall have the same efficacy as any other license issued by the board.

(b) Physicians who are legally authorized to practice osteopathic medicine and surgery in this State or other states or territories of the United States or the Dominion of Canada who apply for training and certification in special departments of osteopathic medicine and surgery in institutions in this Commonwealth recognized by the board with advice and consultation with the various examining boards in osteopathic medical specialties approved by the Council on Osteopathic Education of the American Osteopathic Association as proper for such training, shall receive a graduate certificate limited to said training within the complex of the hospital or its affiliates or community hospitals where he is engaged in such training. This training experience shall not be converted into a staff service. The certificate shall be valid for one year. It may be renewed from year to year. A person who has been certified in a specialty discipline recognized by the board who makes an application for licensure to practice osteopathic medicine and surgery without restriction in the Commonwealth, upon the payment of a fee may be given a qualifying examination. The examination shall emphasize the subject matter of the specialty discipline for which the applicant has been trained. It may include material from the general field of osteopathic medical science.

(c) It shall be the duty of those licensed to practice osteopathic medicine and surgery without restriction to register with the board and to reregister at such intervals and by such methods as the board shall for a period determine. Such renewal period shall not be longer than two years. The form and method of such registration shall be determined by the board.

(d) The board shall adopt, promulgate and enforce rules and regulations establishing requirements for continuing medical education to be met by persons licensed to practice osteopathic medicine without restriction. Each person licensed to practice osteopathic medicine and surgery without restriction, during the two-year period immediately preceding a biennial date for reregistering with the board, must complete a program of continuing medical education, as defined by and acceptable to the board. The number of hours of continuing education to be met by licensees shall be set by the board by regulation. No credit shall be given for any course in office management or practice building. In issuing rules and regulations and individual orders in respect of requirements for continuing medical education, the board, in its discretion, may among other things, use and rely upon guidelines and pronouncements of recognized educational and professional organizations; may prescribe for content, duration and organization of courses; shall take into account the accessibility of such continuing education; may waive such requirements in instances of individual hardship where good cause is shown and the board finds that the public's safety and welfare are not jeopardized by the waiver of such requirements; and shall waive such requirements with respect to retired physicians not engaged in the active practice of osteopathic medicine and surgery.

(e) A person registering with the board shall pay, for each biennial registration, a fee. It shall accompany the application for registration. Upon receiving a proper application for registration accompanied by the fee and evidence satisfactory to the board of compliance with the continuing medical education requirements of subsection (d), the board shall issue its certificate of registration to the applicant. It and its renewals shall be good and sufficient evidence of registration.

(f) The board shall grant licensure to physician assistants which licensure shall be subject to biennial renewal by the board. As part of biennial renewal, a physician assistant shall complete continuing medical education as required by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. The board shall grant licensure to applicants who have fulfilled the following criteria:

In the event that completion of a formal training and educational program is a prerequisite to taking the proficiency examination, the board shall have the power, if it determines that the experience of the applicant is of such magnitude and scope so as to render further formal training and education nonessential to the applicant in assisting a physician in the provision of medical care and services, to waive the training and education requirements under this section.

(g.1) In health care facilities licensed under the “Health Care Facilities Act,” the attending physician of record for a particular patient shall act as the primary supervising physician for the physician assistant while that patient is under the care of the attending physician. Nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize an employer or other entity to require a physician to supervise more physician assistants when the physician, in his or her clinical judgment, determines that supervising more physician assistants will compromise patient care or otherwise affect the physician's ability to properly supervise another physician assistant in accordance with the requirements of this act or regulations promulgated by the board.

(g.3) Professional liability.--

(g.4) A physician assistant shall provide medical services according to a written agreement which provides for all of the following:

(h) The board shall establish such rules and regulations, relating to physician assistants, as it deems necessary to protect the public and to implement the provisions of this act, including, but not limited to reasonable procedures for identification of physician assistants and for informing patients and the public at large of the use of physician assistants.

(i) Information concerning the use of each type of physician assistant shall be collected and reports thereof furnished to the General Assembly annually by the board, including the geographic location of physician assistants and the setting of their practice, i.e., rural, clinic, hospitals or physician's offices.

(j) Nothing in this act shall be construed to permit a licensed physician assistant to practice as an osteopathic physician assistant without the supervision of a licensed physician approved by the appropriate board, but such supervision shall not be construed to require the personal presence of the supervising physician at the place where the services are rendered.

(k) This act shall not be construed to prohibit the performance by the physician assistant of any service within the physician assistant's skills, which is delegated by the supervising physician, and which forms a usual component of that physician's scope of practice.

(l) Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit the employment of physician assistants by a health care facility where such physician assistants function under the supervision of a physician or group of physicians.

(m) The physician assistant being licensed in this act and functioning under the supervision of the physician defines his/her status as an employee and subject to the normal employer/employee reimbursement procedures.

(n) No medical services may be performed by a physician assistant under this act which include the measurement of the range of powers of human vision or the determination of the refractive status of the human eye. This subsection does not prohibit the performance of routine vision screenings or the performance of refractive screenings in the physician's office.

(o) Nothing in this act shall be construed to allow physician assistants to practice chiropractic.

(p) Nothing in this act shall be construed to permit a physician assistant to independently prescribe or dispense drugs. The board and State Board of Pharmacy will jointly develop regulations to permit a physician assistant to prescribe and dispense drugs at the direction of a licensed physician.