Date: Sat, 12/01/2007

 

Legal scopes of practice for the health professions exist in statutes enacted by the state legislature and in regulations developed and implemented by administrative agencies, such as health professions boards. The purpose of this brief is to examine scope of practice issues within the context of improving access to care in California. First, out of the hundreds of differences in scopes of practice between California and other states, we will highlight a small sampling and compare the California scopes of practice of four occupations to more expansive scopes of practice in other states or institutions. Secondly, this brief will discuss efforts to improve scope of practice decision-making.

 

Author(s): Catherine Dower, Sharon Christian, Ed O'Neil