Daily Report Blog

AOA President Martin S. Levine, DO, wrote to the Tennessee State House Health and Human Services Committee on 4/4/12 asking for osteopathic equivalence in HB 1896. This bill would require Advanced Practice Nurses or Physician Assistants performing invasive procedures involving any portion of the spine, spinal cord, sympathetic nerves or block of major peripheral nerves to be under the direct supervision of a physician who is actively practicing spinal injections and has current privileges to do so in a licensed facility. While our letter supports the proposed requirement for direct physician supervision for non-physician clinicians, the bill also provides further limits on which physicians are qualified to provide direct supervision. In doing so, the bill fails to adequately account for all AOA-approved certifications in pain medicine. ​