Physician Assistants and Midwives - Parity With Other Health Care Practitioners
HB0377 expands the role of physician assistants and, in a few places, certified nurse-midwives and licensed certified midwives, by adding them to lists of health care practitioners authorized to perform or certify certain actions under Maryland law. The bill amends provisions governing guardianship petitions, mental health admissions and evaluations, emergency evaluation and involuntary admission procedures, emergency allergy treatment, attendant care eligibility, sick leave certification, health maintenance organization provider choice, and correctional health decisions for pregnant incarcerated individuals. It also adds a statutory definition of “physician assistant” for purposes of the mental health subtitle and updates related cross-references throughout the Health – General Article and other titles.
The bill also requires the Maryland Department of Health to pay for certain emergency evaluation-related charges when the initial consultant examination is performed by a physician assistant, and it adds a physician assistant representative to the Statewide Advisory Commission on Immunizations. In addition, the Maryland Health Care Commission must review data on emergency department length of stay for individuals subject to involuntary admission applications and assess whether overnight arrivals experience longer stays when emergency departments have physician assistants but not enough clinicians authorized to certify involuntary admissions. The act takes effect October 1, 2026.
HB0377 broadens the class of licensed health professionals who may sign certifications, order admissions, prescribe or dispense certain treatments, and otherwise participate in specified health care and administrative processes under Maryland law. It amends multiple sections of the Health – General Article, plus provisions in Correctional Services, Estates and Trusts, Human Services, and State Personnel and Pensions, to recognize physician assistants alongside physicians and certain advanced practice clinicians. The bill also creates a reporting requirement for the Maryland Health Care Commission and directs the Department of Health to cover certain emergency-evaluation costs involving physician assistants, affecting state agency administration and reimbursement practices.
The available record shows no recorded committee transcript or vote breakdown, but the enacted bill and its broad set of technical and practice-expanding amendments suggest generally favorable legislative support for increasing provider parity. The final action was gubernatorial approval, indicating the measure advanced successfully through the process without visible public controversy in the provided materials. Overall, the bill appears to have been treated as a professional scope-and-access modernization measure rather than a contentious policy overhaul.
The main policy issue embedded in the bill is whether physician assistants should be allowed to perform the same certification and admission-related functions as physicians and certain nurse practitioners in settings such as mental health evaluations, involuntary admissions, guardianship proceedings, and emergency treatment programs. A secondary point of concern is operational: the required Maryland Health Care Commission study suggests lawmakers were attentive to whether emergency departments staffed with physician assistants still face delays in involuntary admission cases, especially overnight when fewer certifying clinicians may be available. No opposing arguments, named opponents, or recorded disputes are included in the provided context.