§453-5.3  Physician assistant; licensure
required.  (a)  The Hawaii medical board shall require each person
practicing medicine under the supervision of a physician or osteopathic
physician, other than a person licensed under section 453-3, to be licensed as
a physician assistant.  A person who is trained to do only a very limited
number of diagnostic or therapeutic procedures under the direction of a
physician or osteopathic physician shall not be deemed a practitioner of
medicine or osteopathy and therefore does not require licensure under this
section.



(b)  The board shall establish medical
educational and training standards with which a person applying for licensure
as a physician assistant shall comply.  The standards shall be at least equal
to recognized national education and training standards for physician
assistants.



(c)  Upon satisfactory proof of compliance with
the required medical educational and training standards, the board may grant
state licensure to a person who has been granted certification based upon
passage of a national certifying examination and who holds a current
certificate from the national certifying entity approved by the board.



(d)  The board shall approve temporary
licensure of an applicant under this section. The applicant shall have
graduated from a board approved training program within twelve months of the
date of application and never taken a national certifying examination approved
by the board but otherwise meets the requirements of this section.  The
applicant shall file a complete application with the board and pay all required
fees.  If the applicant fails to apply for, or to take, the first examination
scheduled by the board following the issuance of the temporary license, fails
to pass the examination, or fails to receive licensure, all privileges under
this section shall automatically cease upon written notification sent to the
applicant by the board.  A temporary license shall be issued only once to each
person.



(e)  Prior to practicing under temporary
licensure, holders of temporary licenses shall notify the board in writing of
any and all supervising physicians or osteopathic physicians under whom they
will be performing services.



(f)  The board shall establish the degree of
supervision required by the supervising physician or osteopathic physician when
a physician assistant performs a service within the practice of medicine.  A
physician or osteopathic physician who does not supervise a physician
assistant's services at the degree required by the board shall be deemed to
have engaged in professional misconduct.



(g)  Any license of a physician assistant may
be denied, not renewed, revoked, limited, or suspended under section 453-8.



(h)  The board shall establish the application
procedure, medical educational and training standards, examination requirement,
if any, and degrees of supervision by rule.



(i)  Every person holding a license under this
section shall apply for renewal with the board no later than January 31 of each
even-numbered year and pay a renewal fee.  Failure to apply for renewal shall
constitute a forfeiture of the license that may only be restored upon written
application for restoration and payment to the board of a restoration fee.



(j)  A license that has been forfeited for one
renewal term shall be automatically terminated and cannot be restored.  A new
application for licensure shall be required. [L 1984, c 168, pt of §1; am L
1986, c 144, §1; am L 1988, c 110, §4; am L 1989, c 181, §2; am L 1991, c 52,
§1; am L 1999, c 90, §3; am L 2008, c 5, §8 and c 9, §3]