Selective Ins. Co. of Am. v. Rothman (Summary)

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT SCOPE OF LICENSURE

Selective Ins. Co. of Am. v. Rothman, No. 066630 (N.J. Jan. 19, 2012)

The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed a lower court ruling that a physician’s assistant was statutorily barred from performing “needle electromyography” and declined to overturn the lower court’s decision to apply the ruling retroactively. The conflict began after an insurance company declined to pay a physician for a needle electromyography performed by a physician’s assistant on one of the insurance company’s beneficiaries. The physician sought arbitration to require the insurance company to pay, which he won and which was affirmed by a trial court. The insurance company, however, appealed to the state court of appeals, which overturned the lower court’s decision. Consequently, the physician appealed to the state supreme court.

On appeal, the state supreme court determined that EMGs are to be provided only by those who are licensed to practice medicine, and because PAs are not licensed to practice medicine, they are unable to conduct the EMG tests. Furthermore, the court found that although PAs are authorized to “assist” a physician, they were not authorized to perform tests “in place of” a physician, as such a reading would be contrary to state law reserving certain procedures for physicians only. Finally, the court declined to reverse the lower court ruling to apply its decision retroactively, as the physician had provided no evidence in the record to suggest that allowing PAs to conduct EMG tests was a widespread phenomenon or that the law had previously been “murky.” Consequently, the court upheld the lower court’s decision.