Advocating for you – Protecting patients

Academy leads the charge in protecting patients from misleading advertising

As part of the Academy’s efforts to protect the value of your well-earned credentials, we work hard to make sure the term “physician” is not used in ways that could mislead patients about the level of training and credentials of non-physician health care workers.

When the American Academy of Physician Assistants voted to change the title of their profession to “physician associate,” we brought our concerns to the June 2021 American Medical Association (AMA) Special Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates, by introducing a resolution called “non-physician title misappropriation.” The resolution expressed our strong opposition to the title change, which would cause more confusion among patients about who oversees their care, and also directed the AMA to actively advocate that the stand-alone title “physician” be used only in reference to Doctors of Allopathic Medicine (MDs) and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs). In addition to the AMA resolution, we released a public statement vehemently opposing the PA name change.

The resolution was co-sponsored by more than 25 national medical specialty and state medical associations, who also provided testimony in support of our efforts. Ultimately, the AMA adopted the resolution and stood in solidarity with us and our friends in medicine to support transparency in health care.