PAs do less harm: Disciplinary Actions By the Numbers

In “Physician, Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, and Pharmacist State Board Disciplinary Actions: Cross-sectional Analysis of the United States in 2023,” Lewis and colleagues audited and analyzed data from professional regulatory state boards and the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) for allopathic physicians (MDs), osteopathic physicians (DOs), pharmacists, physician assistants (PAs), and nurse practitioners (NPs). PAs had the lowest incurrence of disciplinary actions of any profession, and MDs had the highest rates based on state board reporting. MDs were statistically more likely to incur disciplinary actions for sexual misconduct than any other profession. These data cannot be used to imply that rates of disciplinary actions are an accurate stand-in for measuring patient safety outcomes, but reveal notable trends within interdisciplinary care teams and state-level reporting mechanisms. This article highlights the low rates of disciplinary actions taken against PAs and also the need for greater transparency in reporting disciplinary actions against health care providers of all types.