Laws for Medical Assistants

All medical assistants, regardless of the amount of education, training, experience, must realize that they are subject to certain laws and limitations and can functions only within their specific scope of practice. American Medical Technologists (AMT) maintains a list of the RMA Lawful Scope of Practice - PDF - Published in AMT Events March 2003 - and a MA Task List that includes various tasks that medical assistants may perform. 

Acting Within the Scope of Practice

An act is within the scope of practice and employment if it is incidental to the employer's business and is done to further the employer's interest. If an employee departs so far from his duties that his acts are no longer for his employer's benefit, then his acts are not within the scope of his employment. However, if the tortuous act of the employee arose out of an activity which was within the employee's scope of employment or within the ordinary course of business, then that act may be considered to be within the scope of employment. 

Performed under the direct supervision of the medical doctor, or supervising licensed healthcare practitioner, the medical assistant can carry out the following tasks:

• Prepare and file medical records and patient charts
• Maintain medical records using numeric or alphabetic systems
• Data collection to be used by licensed healthcare providers
• Inventory control and ordering supplies
• Maintain office equipment
• Manage an account for petty cash
• Post service charges and payments
• Gather community resources
• Prepare and maintain appointment books
• Sterilize and wrap instruments
• Prepare the examination room
• Record body measurements and vital signs
• Assist with the physical examinations
• Assist with therapeutic procedures
• Assist in the handling of equipment in preparation for procedures
• Collect and preserve specimens (blood, urine, sputum, wound scrapings, throat cultures, etc.)
• Perform simple STAT laboratory tests on collected specimens
• Accept telephone calls and relay patient's requests and questions
• Provide health maintenance education not related to a specific diagnosis 
• Patient teaching, e.g. demonstrate how to use an inhaler
• Provide patient education to supplement the doctor's orders
• Compose dictated or pre formatted business correspondence
• Transcribe dictated documents
• Respond to medical office emergencies and provide basic first aid

Medical Assisting Limitations

All medical assistants must adhere to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. Some states require that medical assistants who draw blood to pass a practical examination in phlebotomy and be certified.

Medical Assistant Arrested and Charged with Unlawful Practice of Medicine

A medical assistant was arrested in 2009 in Las Vegas for giving Botox treatments in her role as a medical assistant. She was  charged with 10 felony counts on allegations of "unlawful practice of medicine" that served as a catalyst for a court hearing.

Nevada law prohibits medical assistants from administering any kind of medications, this includes giving injections, but the restriction had largely gone unenforced. It was a medical assistant's arrest on 10 felony counts on allegations of "unlawful practice of medicine" that served as a catalyst for a court hearing.

The Nevada Sate Board of Medical Examiners, in an emergency meeting on Sept. 18, 2009 adopted a regulation to stop medical assistants from performing certain services, such as administering the cosmetic drug Botox. But the regulation allowed medical assistants to give flu shots and vaccinations. A controversy ensued and the board was sued.

A compromise was worked out to allow Nevada medical assistants to give shots under the direct supervision of a physician. Louis Ling, executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners resigned after being involved in a controversy over the use of medical assistants giving flu shots.

Disclaimer:
The above is not an exclusive itemization of the technical supportive services a medical assistant can or cannot perform. Medical assistants must ALWAYS adhere to state and local laws and regulations! As an integral part of the allied healthcare team medical assistants must demonstrate practice consistent with legal standards and state regulations that may apply. Since all fifty (50) states vary in their regulations as to the definition, training standards and scope of practice of the medical assistant, specific state requirements for practice must be identified and met by the concerned individual within the state they work! Nationally recognized certification bodies for medical assistants, however, may further define and regulate the role of the medical assistant. Medical assistants working in a medical office setting must adhere to the rules, regulations and requirements mandated by their state in which they practice as well as those imposed by their overseeing professional membership association.