Q: What is the percentage of physicians being sued for failing to properly supervise a physician assistant or nurse practitioner? What is the percentage of sanctions?
A: There are no figures I could find to answer these very pertinent questions, but my impression is that the number of such lawsuits is extremely low and the results are typical of malpractice cases in general; more than 90% are closed in favor of the provider. Frequently, the source of trouble is complaints filed with the licensing boards that a “midlevel practitioner” is undersupervised. Most of these cases are closed with a caution to the people involved. In practice, the standard of supervision required seems rather low, such as telephone consultation in selected cases and a regular review process. Since most midlevel practitioners work under direct supervision, this more than satisfies these practical requirements.
