Janice Cohen, of Boynton Beach, refused to wait another four weeks to get an appointment with her primary care doctor. When offered a visit with a physician’s assistant, she reluctantly agreed. The experience, she says, proved to be a good one.
“She took much more time with me than a doctor ever would,” Cohen said. More often, a medical appointment now involves interaction with a physician assistant, particularly in Florida, where a doctor shortage has led to long wait times. Also known as physician associates, they see patients in primary care practices and urgent care centers and work for specialists, including cardiologists and pediatricians.
They help fill a gap in Florida caused by retiring doctors and a smaller pipeline of medical students available to cater to the state’s aging population. (In fact, the demand for physician assistants is expected to increase 28% by 2032, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics . Florida’s 16 master degree-level accredited educational programs are working to meet the need.) Those in the profession acknowledge that patients often don’t understand their role, even as they seek to push new laws in Florida that remove the requirement for physicians to supervise them in primary care after a set number of years of practice.
“If we do become more independent, it would require marketing,” said Marilyn Suri, the southern region’s director for the Florida Academy of Physician Assistants. “Part of the issue we have now.