PAMED NEWS

In May, the U.S. State Department (Department) directed U.S. embassies and consulates to pause new student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa appointments to enhance their social media vetting. This pause was lifted on June 18, 2025, but some international doctors have not been able to secure a visa.

The Board of Medicine (Board) issued out final regulations to effectuate Act 79 of 2021. Act 79 removed certain restrictions on physician assistant practice to provide greater autonomy in the practice of the profession.

PAMED has been informed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) that a telehealth provider has been arrested, which means patients may not have access to care.

Thank you to everyone who sent over 600 messages yesterday in response to the U.S. House of Representatives vote on proposed Medicaid cuts.

On Monday, July 7, 2025, Pennsylvania will become a full participant of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) and the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed recommendations made this in April by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to expand access to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination, as well as to add a new option for meningococcal vaccination.

Prior to the enactment of Act 140 of 2020, this Commonwealth was one of only four states that did not regulate pharmacy technicians.

The Drug Enforcement Administration proposes to permanently schedule the following three controlled substances in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)...

Currently, nurses who administer anesthesia in this Commonwealth are licensed as RNs and are authorized to administer anesthesia if properly educated with a graduate degree from a COA-accredited nurse anesthesia program, nationally certified by NBCRNA and the anesthesia is administered in cooperation with a surgeon or dentist.

Upcoming meetings for committees within the PA Department of Health.

As of Wednesday, June 25, 2025, the first WNV-positive mosquito pools of the year were identified in Pennsylvania in five counties including Beaver, Bucks, Erie, Lehigh and Northampton through the routine seasonal monitoring conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) West Nile virus (WNV) surveillance program.

On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) granted De Novo authorization to Clairity Breast, the first-ever AI-powered platform that predicts a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer over the next five years—using only a standard mammogram. De Novo authorization is especially meaningful as it marks the very first platform of its kind.

Effective July 1, 2025, AmeriTrust Group, Inc., an affiliate brand of AF Group, will no longer directly service Pennsylvania Medical Society members. To better support the association members, we have appointed World Insurance Associates LLC as the exclusive agent for brokerage services -- AmeriTrust will remain the insurance carrier.

The United States Supreme Court, on June 23, 2025, denied the petition of the Pennsylvania Joint Underwriting Association (JUA) to have the Supreme Court review its case against Governor Shapiro and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Addition of Metachromatic Leukodystrophy to the Supplemental Conditions Mandated for Screening in this Commonwealth

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing an opportunity for the public to comment on CMS' intention to collect information from the public on the following:

Extreme heat is forecasted for Pennsylvania starting Sunday, June 22 and continuing into early next week.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a Tennessee state statute that banned certain medical interventions for minors for purposes of attempting to change sexual identity or to address discomfort with sexual identity. In United States v. Skrmetti, by a 6-3 vote, the Court on June 18, 2025, determined that constitutional review of the state law did not require higher-level legal scrutiny and that the state law met the applicable legal standard for constitutionality.

Delegation Chair and Vice Chair, Jill Owens, MD and John Vasudevan, MD, led twenty-eight members of the Pennsylvania Delegation to the American Medical Association (AMA) at the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD or the House) in Chicago from June 6 – 11, 2025.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) is forwarding the following advisory to health care providers, “Responding to Overdose and Withdrawal Involving Medetomidine” from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH).