Medical assistants can now give flu shots

State leaders on Tuesday forged a resolution to allow medical assistants to provide injections, a move that could help stave off public health fears about the upcoming flu season.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said action was needed to avoid an "imminent health care crisis" in the state.

"A number of physicians have said they would no longer be able to provide flu shots or immunizations in their offices without clarification of the role of medical assistants," the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

Buckley and Horsford issued a statement saying the plan was developed after several days of discussions with the governor's office, the attorney general and the State Board of Medical Examiners.

Medical assistants can give shots if they are under the direct supervision of a licensed physician, as previously provided by board policy, said Dr. Charles Held, president of the medical board.

That policy says that the physician is responsible for the "training, competence and for all acts performed by the assistant."

Held added that the board will work to create "a more detailed regulation" as soon as possible.

The issue of who can, and cannot, give injections touched off fears in the medical community last month when some Nevada health clinics prohibited medical assistants from giving the shots. The ban followed regulators' review of a 30-year-old state law that found that medical assistants were not authorized to give them.

The state Board of Medical Examiners in September tried to rectify the discrepancy by adopting an emergency regulation allowing medical assistants to give flu shots and other vaccines, but prohibiting them from injecting cosmetic drugs such as Botox.

That sparked a court challenge by a Las Vegas lawyer representing two medical spa owners, who argued the board violated the state's Open Meeting Law when it approved the regulation and therefore it was illegal.

A Clark County judge agreed and voided the emergency regulation.

Buckley and Horsford said a legislative health care committee also will hold hearings beginning in November on any changes to state law that may be needed to detail what duties medical assistants can perform.