What must the supervising physician actually do in Pennsylvania?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Before each delegated service the physician must verify the staffer's training and competency, judge that this patient faces no undue risk, explain the delegation to the patient, and take responsibility — and may never delegate what they can't do themselves.
A physician may approve a standing protocol delegating medical acts to another health care practitioner who encounters a medical emergency, to stabilize the patient until the physician or emergency medical services personnel are available to attend.
49 Pa. Code §18.402 · verified Aug 17, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Pennsylvania rules
A medical doctor may delegate the performance of a medical service to a health care practitioner or a technician only where the delegation is consistent with the standards of acceptable medical practice embraced by the medical doctor community in Pennsylvania, and where it does not violate any other statute or regulation governing the person receiving it.
49 Pa. Code §18.402(a) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at Cornell Legal Information Institute
The delegating physician must confirm the person receiving the delegation has the education, training, experience and continued competency to perform it safely, must determine there is no undue risk to that particular patient, and assumes responsibility for the delegated service.
49 Pa. Code §18.402(a) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at Cornell Legal Information Institute
How other states answer this
- Alabama
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