New Mexico Statutes
Article 6 - Medicine and Surgery
Section 61-6-9 - Physician assistants; rules.

The board may adopt and enforce reasonable rules for:
A. education, skill and experience for licensure of a person as a physician assistant and providing forms and procedures for biennial license renewal;
B. examining and evaluating an applicant for licensure as a physician assistant as to skill, knowledge and experience of the applicant in the field of medical care;
C. establishing when and for how long physician assistants are permitted to prescribe, administer, dispense and distribute dangerous drugs other than controlled substances in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act [Chapter 30, Article 31 NMSA 1978] pursuant to rules adopted by the board after consultation with the board of pharmacy;
D. allowing a supervising or collaborating licensed physician to temporarily delegate supervision or collaboration responsibilities for a physician assistant to another licensed physician;
E. establishing when a physician assistant may engage in the practice of medicine in collaboration with a licensed physician; and
F. carrying out all other provisions of the Physician Assistant Act.
History: 1953 Comp., § 67-5-3.5, enacted by Laws 1973, ch. 361, § 5; 1978 Comp., § 61-6-8, recompiled as § 61-6-9 by Laws 1989, ch. 9, § 4; 1994, ch. 57, § 14; 1994, ch. 80, § 4; 1995, ch. 21, § 1; 1997, ch. 187, § 7; 2003, ch. 19, § 9; 2017, ch. 103, § 3.
Recompilations. — Laws 1989, ch. 9, § 5 recompiled former 61-6-9 NMSA 1978, relating to responsibility, as 61-6-10 NMSA 1978, effective March 4, 1989.
The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, removed the provision requiring biennial registration of a physician assistant's supervising physician, allowed the medical board to adopt rules allowing a supervising or collaborating licensed physician to temporarily delegate supervision or collaboration responsibilities for a physician assistant to another licensed physician and establishing when a physician assistant may engage in the practice of medicine in collaboration with a licensed physician; in Subsection A, after "biennial", deleted "licensure and registration of supervision by a licensed physician" and added "license renewal"; in Subsection D, after "supervising", added "or collaborating", and after "delegate", deleted "supervisory" and added "supervision or collaboration"; and in Subsection E, deleted "allowing" and added "establishing when", after "physician assistant", deleted "to temporarily serve under the supervision of a licensed physician other than the supervising" and added "may engage in the practice of medicine in collaboration with a", and after "licensed physician", added "of record".
The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, deleted "and regulations" in the section heading; deleted "and regulations" at the end of the undesignated paragraph; deleted "for setting qualifications of" preceding "education, skill and experience"; added "for:" to the end of the present undesignated paragraph; redesignated former Paragraphs A(2) to A(6) as present Subsections B to F; and deleted former Subsection B relating to no rule shall be adopted that will allow a physician's assistant to measure or perform treatment outside the physician assistant's scope of practice.
The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, in Subsection A, rewrote Paragraph (1), and substituted "licensure" for "registration" in Paragraph (2).
The 1995 amendment, effective June 16, 1995, substituted the language beginning "treatment of the human foot" for "diagnosis or medical, surgical, mechanical, manipulative and orthopedic treatment of the human foot" at the end of the final sentence of Subsection B and made stylistic changes throughout the section.
The 1994 amendment, effective May 18, 1994, designated the previously undesignated introductory paragraph as Subsection A, and the previously undesignated last paragraph as Subsection B; redesignated former Subsections A to D as Paragraphs A(1), A(2), A(3) and A(6); in Subsection A, inserted "licensed" in Paragraph (1), rewrote Paragraph (3), and inserted Paragraphs (4) and (5); and deleted "Provided, however" at the beginning of the first sentence in Subsection B. Laws 1994, ch. 57, § 14 enacted identical amendments to this section. The section was set out as amended by Laws 1994, ch. 80, § 4. See 12-1-8 NMSA 1978.
The 1989 amendment, effective March 4, 1989, renumbered this section, which formerly was 61-6-8 NMSA 1978; added "Physician assistants" at the beginning of the catchline; in Subsection A substituted "registration" for "certification" near the beginning of the subsection, and "registration" for "qualification" near the end of the subsection, and added all of the language following "employment"; in Subsection B substituted "registration" for "certificates of qualification"; added present Subsection C; redesignated former Subsection C as present Subsection D; in Subsection D, substituted "the Physician Assistant Act" for "this act"; and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.
Rule disallowed which authorized delegation of dispensation of dangerous drugs. — The board of medical examiners acted outside the scope of its authority and contrary to law when it promulgated a rule allowing physicians, in certain circumstances, to delegate to physicians' assistants the task of dispensing dangerous drugs in view of Section 61-6-16G(3) NMSA 1978 (now Section 61-6-17 NMSA 1978). N.M. Pharm. Ass'n v. State, 1987-NMSC-054, 106 N.M. 73, 738 P.2d 1318 (decided under prior law).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 73 C.J.S. Public Administrative Law and Procedure §§ 87 to 102.

Structure New Mexico Statutes