Welcome from the OSPA President

Summer, 2010

Welcome to OSPA!

Hello, I am Barbara Martin, MS, PA-C, your current president for Oregon Society of Physician Assistants.  I am a primary care PA, working at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Portland OR for the last 5 ½ years.  I graduated from PA school in 2000 from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.  I then worked in diabetes care and pulmonary medicine, as well as in an emergency room on the east coast.  These trained me well for the primary care work that I do now.  I have been in Portland for almost 6 years, and plan to make Oregon my long term home.

OSPA is here to work together for common goals, as well as to support you, the Oregon Physician Assistant.

You may also know OSPA from attending our CME meetings.  Our Central Coast Update is held each fall on the coast, and we also host a Spring CME in rotating locations.  In 2010 the Spring Update was held in Portland, and was well received.  The fall CME will be in Newport, OR as it has been in previous years.

If you have not already joined, please consider becoming a member of OSPA.  Your membership enables us to keep working for you!  You can also participate with OSPA in many ways.  We are looking for various committee members and chairs, as well as liaisons to other boards.  Our board meetings are open meetings, and you would be welcome to attend, in person or by phone.

During the coming legislative year (2011) the OSPA leadership is planning to pursue important improvements in the law that governs physician-PA teams in Oregon. Along with minor technical amendments, Oregon law needs an upgrade in three key areas:

• Streamlining the licensure and supervision agreement process
• Rationalizing supervision requirements
• Clarifying that the exact parameters of each PA's practice are determined by physician delegation and privileging decisions made by facilities.

Although physician assistants are a critical part of the Oregon health care workforce, Oregon law is overdue for a modernization. By making a few key changes, Oregon can become a state where it is easy for physician-PA teams to provide care in a wide variety of specialties and settings, and where PAs can change positions and change supervising physicians without a cumbersome process at the medical board.

In order to achieve these goals we need your support!  Please join OSPA, and consider donating to the PA PAC.  This fund helps support key legislators who can support our advocacy plans.  Remember, a $50 individual contribution ($100 for a couple) results in an equal tax credit that comes off the top of your state tax return, making this a painless way to support our efforts to improve our law.

Please contact us if you would like to participate in any way with OSPA, as well as if we can be of service to you.

Sincerely,
Barbara Martin
OSPA President
Bemfk77@yahoo.com