The AAPA's 'New Day'
Are there going to be changes at the American Academy of Physician Assistants? Sure looks like it.
Ever since new AAPA executive vice president and CEO Bill Leinweber arrived at the academy in February, a common catchphrase for academy staff and PA leaders has been “It’s a new day at the AAPA.”
In the May 15 issue of AAPA News, an editorial by Leinweber appears under exactly that headline:
‘It’s a New Day’ at the AAPA!
In the editorial, Leinweber gives four examples of challenges that face the AAPA:
We have yet to demonstrate sufficient value to engage a large percentage of our professional colleagues as members of AAPA.
In recent months, national media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal have filed stories on the primary care provider shortage facing the nation. None of these stories referenced the role of the physician assistant as a solution to this real and growing problem.
The pipeline of rigorous research on the PA profession — both workforce and health outcome research — is shallow and woefully underfunded, which has resulted in a growing list of questions we are currently unable to answer.
Higher education institutions throughout the country are building doctoral programs for clinical health professions, with little or no evidence that such programs will yield more capable and competent health care professionals. Collectively, the official response to this phenomenon by the professional associations with PArelated missions has been silence.
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