Improving vaccination rates and lessening vaccination hesitancy is a top priority for all health care professionals. Medical assistants are in a prime position to help, but the exact nature of their role requires some legal considerations.
Consider the following situation:
I own a pharmacy in which pharmacists administer influenza vaccinations. Could I hire a medical assistant to help us administer these influenza shots, or is it required that medical assistants work only under the supervision of a physician?
Most often, medical assistants work under the authority and supervision of licensed providers such as physicians (doctors of medicine or osteopathic medicine), nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in outpatient settings. However, state laws generally do not prohibit other licensed health care professionals (such as podiatrists, dentists, optometrists, and pharmacists) from employing medical assistants and delegating legally permitted tasks to them.
In response to your specific question, it is necessary to check the pharmacy practice act of your state—and the regulations and policies of the state board of pharmacy—to ascertain which allied health professionals (if any) may be delegated the administration of influenza vaccinations by a pharmacist. It is also necessary to determine the degree of supervision pharmacists must exercise over allied health professionals who are administering influenza vaccinations. I suspect the pharmacy law of your state requires delegating pharmacists to exercise on-site supervision over professionals who are administering influenza vaccinations.
If you’d like to know more about your specific state laws, visit the State Scope of Practice Laws webpage on the AAMA website.
Legal Eye 