Cervantes bill aims to improve health care access in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - To ensure more skilled health care professionals can practice in Illinois, State Senator Javier Loera Cervantes introduced legislation to better support the state's physician assistant workforce and improve access to care.

"Before my work in the General Assembly, I worked with health care providers to resolve issues of inaccessibility, and I saw firsthand how it can take weeks or months to see doctors and other health care providers, leading to worse health outcomes for the patient seeking treatment," said Cervantes (D-Chicago). "By streamlining the process of becoming a licensed physician assistant, patients will be able to receive medical help sooner."

According to a 2020 workforce report prepared by the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center, Illinois currently has a shortage of more than 15,000 nurses. With projections of a shortage of more than 6,000 doctors by 2030, patients could face significant delays in seeing a provider, which can negatively impact their health.

To expand patients' access to care, particularly for residents in his district on Chicago's south and southwest side, Cervantes' legislation would allow physician assistants with more than 2,000 clinical hours to practice without a supervising physician. With similar training as nurses and doctors, PAs can provide high-quality health care, but have run into difficulties getting their license approved due to a long, tedious paperwork approval process.

"Students are accepting jobs out of state because of Illinois' overly bureaucratic requirements, and it's time for this legislation to modernize our laws," said Hazel Domingo, president of the Illinois Academy of Physician Assistants. "Studies have shown that PA laws in Illinois do not allow our physician assistants to practice to the level of their training and education, which hurts health care access."

Senate Bill 271 waits to be assigned to a committee for consideration.