JAAPA : official journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants
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Comparative Study
Patient care by physician assistants and by physicians in an emergency department.
Decreasing health care dollars have resulted in increased utilization of so-called midlevel practitioners. We compared emergency physicians with emergency department physician assistants (PAs) to determine whether PAs are an appropriate option for providing services rendered by physicians in this setting. ⋯ Despite a few large differences in some diagnostic groups, the two types of provider had, overall, small but clinically insignificant differences in length of visit and total charges. The magnitude of difference in length of visit and total charges strongly suggests that PAs, when compared with physicians, are a viable staffing option in an urgent care facility.