Ophthalmologists who invest in physician assistants reap valuable rewards

Among the various physician extenders for an ophthalmic practice, a physician assistant may very well be the most valuable for patient care, patient convenience and the practice’s financial well-being due to the wide scope of services that a physician assistant can perform. However, practices must be willing to commit the time and resources necessary to properly train such a medical professional.“Having a physician assistant (PA) is a critical part of the eye care team, but not necessarily more or less valuable than having an optometric provider,” Michael L. Gilbert, MD, medical and surgical director at Northwest Vision Institute in Bellevue, Washington, said. His practice hired a PA for the first time 2 years ago. “The advantage of a PA is that he or she is going to be better at handling the predominately medical aspect of the practice. The training and scope of practice for a PA is more closely aligned with that of the supervising MD.”