RX for Practice Overload?

In order to decide between taking on a partner or hiring a PA, McTigue says it can be helpful to assess what area of the practice could benefit from decompression. Are there routine tasks that do not require physician-level expertise? For example, stable patients on disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or biologic therapies require monitoring that can be done by a PA. Patients with chronic rheumatic diseases often have trouble adjusting psychologically to their chronic conditions, and PAs are ideally suited to evaluate whether patients could benefit from referrals to other health professionals, such as physical therapists or occupational therapists.

McTigue advises rheumatologists who are exploring the possibility of hiring a PA to consult other colleagues who have done so. In that way, they can get a sense of the time commitment that is involved. “It’s a learning curve for someone who has not had exposure to what PAs can do,” she says. This may also help physicians filter out whether they simply need someone to answer more phone calls (such as a nurse), or whether what they really need is a partner to help with the patient load.