Stephen H. Hanson, PA-C

The holiday season often brings reflections on life and career. This provider is thankful for having the opportunity to serve.

There is a direct correlation between laws governing physician assistant scope of practice and their effectiveness as part of the care team.

Working as a physician assistant can be a rewarding career, there is also great potential for burnout. Here are some ways to combat daily stress.

CMS reconsiders its move to restrict hospital admissions to physicians only, and reaffirms the ability of nonphysician providers to write admission orders for patients.

Physician assistants are poised and ready for the challenge of helping your medical practice with the transition to ICD-10.

Team-based healthcare relies on everyone working together for the benefit of the patient. And under health reform, having an effective team has its rewards.

A proposed rule by CMS would severely hamper PAs and other nonphysician providers from helping patients in need of care, sometimes immediately.

Physicians shouldn't try to shoulder all the responsibilities that come with practicing medicine. Don't go it alone. A team-based approach can help.

It's time to start embracing the new future of healthcare and the important role of physician assistants versus treating reform like a political football.

Addressing the privacy and safety concerns of mobile medicine should be as important as accessibility for today's medical providers.

No single provider can tackle the challenges that diabetes presents alone. That's why PAs and a team-based approach to healthcare will play such an important role.

The AMA is discussing a resolution to severely limit scope of care by physician assistants. It's a solution in search of a problem and comes at a bad time.

One of the anticipated costs of EHR implementation is helping those who are struggling to adapt, most notably older providers.

The most reasonable and productive regulation of physician assistants is to allow decisions regarding supervision in the hands of physicians and practice sites.

Training and the full utilization of the skills of everyone on the healthcare team is what made the difference in Boston, minimizing death and disability.

It's time to involve everyone, including nonphysician providers, in the healthcare team. That requires not falling back on the ways we have always done things.

The answer to training more physicians and other providers like PAs has to go beyond didactic training, and include ample opportunities for clinical training.

Together is the only way we are going to be able meet the challenges facing physicians and other providers in serving the healthcare needs of the patients.

The feeling of innovation that comes from using an EHR can also be matched by the fear that a HIPAA violation is more likely to occur.

There is no evidence PAs and NPs are a large factor in the illegal diversion of narcotics, so a recent recommendation to the FDA on pain control upsets me.

From the emergence of non-physicians to the role of EHRs, it is time for America to take a fresh look at how we care for patients.

Telemedicine and other health IT tools can help physician assistants be more proactive in patient care. Some of the rules need to change too, however.

Physicians, physician assistants, and other providers should be at the forefront of the debates stemming from the Newtown shootings locally and nationally.

Taiwan's electronic healthcare information system offers a view of the future, one made closer by health IT provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

This is the time of year when we traditionally take stock in ourselves and think about what really matters in life.

President Obama and the Affordable Care Act survived Election Day, but there are real threats to patients and healthcare professionals looming on the horizon.

The election is less than two weeks away, and no matter if the Affordable Care Act is preserved or repealed, healthcare continues to evolve.

It hasn't been the easiest road to get to where I am today as a physician assistant, but things have definitely evolved for the better for our profession.

While EHRs have the ability to reduce medical errors, the potential to create coding and other errors must be constantly monitored.

As I plan for my retirement, I look at the next generation of physician assistants and what the future looks like for them.