Physician Assistants are independently licensed health care professionals who are formally trained to provide diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive health care services, as delegated by a supervising physician. Working as members of the health care team, they take medical histories, examine and treat patients, order and interpret laboratory tests, x-rays and endoscopic services, and make diagnoses. In Colorado and most other states physician assistants may prescribe medication.
The designation PA-C following a physician assistant's name indicates that they are certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants.
Physician Assistants seeing you at Digestive Health work closely with our physician gastroenterologists. While all care provided by PAs at Digestive Health is physician-supervised, the degree of supervision varies with the medical complexity of the case. Patients followed by a PA in our practice are also assigned to a physician supervisor, who reviews each clinic note entry at the time that it is filed into our medical record system. In many cases a PA will confer directly with the supervising physician regarding complex points of care. The PA may request a formal consultation with a physician gastroenterologist, or the physician gastroenterologist may elect to schedule a personal visit with a patient to further facilitate that patient's care.
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