Venkat introduces legislation to ease restrictions on physician assistants and eliminate print statement fees

Rep. Arvind Venkat    May 15, 2024 | 2:08 PM

HARRISBURG, May 15 – State Rep. Arvind Venkat, D-Allegheny, has introduced bills that would put a flexibility component in place for physician assistants and the supervising physicians they work with and prohibit banks or other financial institutions from charging clients a fee for a paper copy of a statement.

The first two pieces of legislation (House Bills 2294 and 2295) would amend the physician licensure acts in Pennsylvania and allow physician assistants to work with either classification of physician, a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Current law on the books mandates that physician assistants and supervising physicians must be licensed by the same state medicine board as the supervising physician.

“Cutting all the red tape and connecting medical professionals with patients that need their skills and expertise to recover is one of the foundational tenets of health care and my work as a physician-legislator,” Venkat said. “Doctors want to help as many people as they can, and my bills help to break down the barriers to this mission.”

Venkat’s additional legislation (H.B. 2292) would ban entities from assessing an additional fee, as high as $5 monthly, to customers who request a print version of a statement from a given entity. The bill would also specify that any person or entity would still be allowed to create incentives for a consumer to select an alternative to a paper statement.

“Customers do not deserve to be penalized when they ask to see a print record of their own financial transactions,” he said. “My legislation is a commonsense measure that seeks to help Pennsylvanians keep more money in their pockets and manage their finances in a transparent way.”

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