AA/CRNA advantages?

[Conz3434]

Hello all,

I was just reading up on the role of an Anesthesiology Assistant and I understand that the major difference is that they need supervision from an MDA or other doctor. Also, they do not need to be nurses but do need to have graduated with some form of a Pre-Med bachelors degree. As of right now AA's can only practice in I think 13 states? I'm not exactly sure. However, I read somewhere that they can technically practice in any state and their services can just be billed as a Physicians Asisstant. Does anyone know of any truth to this? Thanks for any comments.

-Conz

P.S. This isn't an invitation for a huge argument over which is better, I just simply want to know if anyone knows any more about this subject.

...anyways if I had to pick, I think a CRNA is more desirable because of the autonomy...

...But I could see how a non-nursing major would find the straight out of college to Anesthesia school appealing...

[core0]

Hello all,

I was just reading up on the role of an Anesthesiology Assistant and I understand that the major difference is that they need supervision from an MDA or other doctor. Also, they do not need to be nurses but do need to have graduated with some form of a Pre-Med bachelors degree. As of right now AA's can only practice in I think 13 states? I'm not exactly sure. However, I read somewhere that they can technically practice in any state and their services can just be billed as a Physicians Asisstant. Does anyone know of any truth to this? Thanks for any comments.

-Conz

P.S. This isn't an invitation for a huge argument over which is better, I just simply want to know if anyone knows any more about this subject.

...anyways if I had to pick, I think a CRNA is more desirable because of the autonomy...

...But I could see how a non-nursing major would find the straight out of college to Anesthesia school appealing...

Some of the states that AAs practice in do not have a state AA practice act. I am guessing they practice under delegated authority but I am not sure. AAs cannot practice as a PA. PAs are either licensed (or registered for those few states that still use this) in all 50 states. With the exception of a few older PAs grandfathered in, licensure requires graduation from PA school and certification as a PA.

Georgia for historical reasons licenses AAs as PA- anesthesia but they are not PAs under any other definition.

Medicare and other insurance companies have similar requirements. AA billing is seperate from licensure (at least for Medicare). So no AAs cannot bill as a PA (however there may be other ways to bill). For that matter PAs are not listed under the providers that can bill for anesthesia. The few PAs that do provide anesthesia services do so in areas that do not bill (VA, HMO etc.).

David Carpenter, PA-C