ST. LOUIS (AP) — Legislation pending before Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon could allow medical school graduates to start seeing patients sooner.
The bill would create a classification of “assistant physician” for graduates who have passed licensing exams but have not completed residency training. They would be allowed to provide primary care and prescribe drugs in rural or urban areas where there are shortages of doctors.
Assistant physicians would be overseen by another doctor, who would have to be physically present with them for at least the first month.
The Missouri State Medical Association told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the proposal could help attract recent medical school graduates to Missouri.
Nixon has not said whether he will sign the legislation.