“In accordance with HB 111, it is not necessary for any monitoring agreement to be submitted to and verified by the Medical Board. The adoption of HB 111 implies, among other things, less burden and bureaucracy for employers of medical assistants (PAs) and their caregivers. As of September 28, 2018, the effective date of the law[1], supervisory agreements will no longer have to be submitted to the State Medical Board of Ohio Board and approved by the State Medical Board of Ohio (Board). The new law provides that care agreements must only be recorded in the records of the medical practitioner who entered into the agreement. In addition, supervisory agreements may be amended at any time without obtaining the approval of the Board of Directors or without additional submissions. Finally, there is no longer a time limit for surveillance agreements, i.e. they do not have to be renewed in order to remain effective. Although the board of directors is less supervised, the substantive requirements of the supervisory agreements remain the same. In addition, the possible penalty for non-compliance is more severe. Previously, the board could impose civil penalties of up to US$1,000 for non-compliance.
Now, the board of directors can sanction non-compliance with a fine of up to $US 5,000. While the newly adopted legislation is less onerous, possible sanctions should motivate employers and doctors to comply with the material requirements of these agreements. The board has provided form agreements for convenience, but physicians and their advisors may design their own agreements that are compliant with the law. The link to the form agreements is available here: www.med.ohio.gov/Apply/Physician-Assistant-PA. The Board of Directors is proactively implementing this legislation so that licensees can immediately benefit from this new optimized process. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to file support agreements by eLicense. There is no need to do anything for those who have existing support agreements (except to ensure that a copy is deposited on the training ground), even if they are planned for an extension. Make sure that any changes you make to the agreements between now and September 26, 2018 generate a new monitoring agreement that will be registered.
Make sure that all monitoring agreements you registered on September 26, 2018 are correct. After September 26, the Medical Board will begin the audit process and there will be penalties for non-compliance. For simplicity, the Board has updated the monitoring agreement forms, which can be found at the following links. Eric Plinke is a partner in the Corporate Department and Health Law Practice Group and regularly advises companies and individuals on a wide range of healthcare legal issues. He has advised clients on the creation and takeover of practices, hospital and joint venture transactions, hospital and physician practices, contract control and preparation, compliance programs, HIPAA regulations, business area issues, telemedicine and strong anti-kickback laws, as well as extensive experience in ambulatory centers and other joints.