What must the supervising physician actually do in Massachusetts?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Not on-site — supervision of a physician assistant must be continuous but never requires the physician's personal presence; the supervisor sets the PA's scope from their training and experience and stays legally responsible for an employed PA at all times.
A physician assistant may perform medical services when those services are rendered under the supervision of a registered physician. That supervision shall be CONTINUOUS but shall NOT require the personal presence of the supervising physician or physicians. Massachusetts settles the on-site question in the statute itself rather than leaving it to a board rule.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 112, § 9E · verified Sep 1, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Massachusetts rules
What a physician assistant may do is set by their own training rather than by a list: depending upon their level of professional training and experience as determined by a supervising physician, they may perform medical services of a general nature and may order tests and therapeutics in private practice, group practice or a health care facility, consistent with that facility’s bylaws and policies.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 112, § 9E · verified Sep 1, 2026
⚠️ The absence of a presence requirement is paid for in liability. Where a physician assistant is employed by a physician or group of physicians, the assistant shall be supervised by and shall be the legal responsibility of the employing physician or physicians — and that responsibility remains theirs AT ALL TIMES, including when the assistant aids in care at a health care facility. Where the employer is the facility, the legal responsibility for the assistant’s acts and omissions is the facility’s.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 112, § 9E · verified Sep 1, 2026
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