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HomeBusiness and Professions CodeDiv. 2Ch. 7.7Art. 3§ 3516 Physician Assistant Supervision Limits

§ 3516 Physician Assistant Supervision Limits

Business and Professions Code·California
AI Summary·Official Text·Key Terms·Related Statutes·References
AI SummaryVerified

§ 3516 Physician Assistant Supervision Limits

Key Takeaways

  • •A doctor can hire or supervise a physician assistant unless the doctor is in trouble with the Medical Board of California.
  • •A doctor can usually supervise up to 4 physician assistants at once, but can supervise up to 8 if they are only doing home health checks (no treatment or prescriptions).
  • •The Medical Board can limit a doctor to supervising only certain types of physician assistants, like those in the doctor's specialty.
  • •Physician assistants doing home checks must tell the doctor everything they find.

Example

A doctor wants to hire 5 physician assistants to help with check-ups at a clinic.

The doctor can only supervise 4 at once unless the extra one is just doing home visits to check on patients (no treating or giving medicine). If the 5th one is doing home visits, the doctor can supervise up to 8, but must follow the rules for home checks.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source
View on CA.gov

§ 3516 Physician Assistant Supervision Limits

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a physician assistant licensed by the board shall be eligible for employment or supervision by a physician and surgeon who is not subject to a disciplinary condition imposed by the Medical Board of California prohibiting that employment or supervision. (b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) and in Section 3502.5, a physician and surgeon shall not supervise more than four physician assistants at any one time. (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a physician and surgeon may supervise up to, but no more than, eight physician assistants at one time, but only if the following conditions are satisfied by all supervised physician assistants: (A) The physician assistants are focused solely on performing in home health evaluations. (B) The physician assistants are performing in home health evaluations solely for the following purposes: (i) Gathering patient information. (ii) Performing an annual wellness visit or health evaluation, if it does not involve direct patient treatment or prescribing medication. (3) A physician assistant who performs an in home health evaluation for the purposes specified in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) remains subject to all supervisory and scope requirements pursuant to this chapter and shall provide the supervising physician and surgeon with all information related to their evaluation under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2). (c) The Medical Board of California may restrict a physician and surgeon to supervising specific types of physician assistants including, but not limited to, restricting a physician and surgeon from supervising physician assistants outside of the field of specialty of the physician and surgeon. (d) For purposes of this section: (1) “In home health evaluation” means a comprehensive physical exam, assessment of current and prior health conditions, a complete medication review, screening tests, health education, and assessment of social determination of health needs to be used for diagnosing individual medical conditions. (2) “Annual wellness visit” means a preventive visit with correlating current procedural terminology codes performed annually to a patient, to be used for the purposes of diagnosing patient conditions during the annual wellness visit, which may include a nonphysical examination for patients covered by Medicare Part B for more than 12 months. (Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 827, Sec. 1. (AB 1070) Effective January 1, 2024.)

Last verified: January 22, 2026

Key Terms

employmentevaluationannual wellness visittreatmenteducationmedicalterminationpatient

Related Statutes

  • § 3501 Physician Assistant Definitions
  • § 3502 Physician Assistant Supervision Requirements
  • § 3524.5 Physician Assistant Continuing Education
  • § 2878.1 Nurse Misconduct Reporting Duty
  • § 4052.8 Pharmacist Vaccine Administration Authority

References

  • Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
  • California Legislature. Business and Professions Code. Section 3516.
View Official Source