Six states have adopted the physician associate title, and hospitals in those states are in different stages of using the title internally.
The American Academy of Physician Associates voted in 2021 to adopt “physician associate” as the profession’s official title, arguing the term “assistant” understates PAs’ clinical responsibilities. Since then, six states — Alaska, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire and Oregon — have passed legislation officially shifting to using the physician associate title. Kansas and Wisconsin have also passed title recognition legislation that allows PAs to use the associate title.
Hospitals and health systems in these states told Becker’s they’ve welcomed the title change.
“We believe that adopting this change in title accurately portrays the roles and responsibilities that are required of our physician associates and that have already been implemented by national PA organizations,” David Asprey, PhD, PA-C, associate dean for medical education and professional programs and as chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies and Services at Iowa City-based University of Iowa Health Care, told Becker’s. “While it does take some focused effort to implement the change, we are confident that it will result in an improved environment for our PA and the patients that they provide care to.”
The title change does not change the way PAs provide care to patients or how they function in the system, leaders told Becker’s, instead it helps better represent the PA role in the healthcare team and reflects the evolution of the profession, Jessica Logsdon, PA-C, senior director of advanced practice at Portland-based MaineHealth, told Becker’s.
MaineHealth was able to adopt the title change swiftly, but other systems told Becker’s adoption is expected to take years to fully implement.
New Hampshire became the third state to adopt the title in June 2025, and Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth Health is still in the process of making the change. The delay is partly due to the time it takes for PAs actual licenses to change over to physician associate, which happens as they renew it.
“It takes them some time to move everything over so that all the licensing nomenclature is consistent in the state,” Debra Fournier, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, PMHNP-BC, chief advance practice provider at Dartmouth Health, told Becker’s. “We’ve been taking our time looking at all the different things within our hospital system, from policies to the electronic medical record to patient education information and transitioning language to physician associate.”
Change has also been slow because Dartmouth Health crosses state lines, and Vermont has not adopted the new title. But to date, the system has changed all its policy and practices to use both terms — physician assistant/associate —- everywhere it can. But Dr. Fournier said it will probably be a couple more years until they have fully completed the transition.
Is your state considering the title change?
Several states, including Ohio and New Jersey, are considering adopting the physician associate title, so Becker’s asked leaders for their advice to hospitals on making the shift.
1. Ms. Logsdon: Be open-minded and approach the conversation with curiosity. The operational effort is important, but the cultural impact may be the most significant factor. The symbolism of adopting and implementing a change like this should not be underestimated. For PAs, the adoption of the physician associate title demonstrates leadership’s willingness to evolve alongside the profession. Leadership’s visible support strengthened the message that clinicians’ voices are respected and valued. In a healthcare environment grappling with workforce shortages, burnout and constant change, meaningful actions like this can reinforce professional identity, sparking optimism about what the future might hold. That extends well beyond the title.
2. Lindsay Hamilton. Assistant Vice President Provider Recruitment for Northern Light Health (Brewer, Maine): We did a really good job communicating proactively with our teams, so there wasn’t an element of surprise — it was more just checking the boxes of what needed to be done. Recruitment advertising was probably the biggest area for us, making sure we updated the title to “physician associate.” But because we communicated about this change, we didn’t get a lot of questions about why “physician associate” versus “physician assistant.” Everybody just knew we were in the process of changing. As far as PA recruitment, the change has not increased the number of applications, but it has definitely been a talking point with states that haven’t adopted the title. There are definitely more questions from applicants, because we do get a lot of out-of-state applicants asking what this means — is the position different? When we’ve explained that this was our way of providing clarity about the role, and the growth of the role, and how the Maine licensing board recognized it, we’ve seen a positive impact.
3. Dr. Fournier: There’s no cost other than slowly changing policy over time. There’s no real cost to making this change. There is a huge cost to not doing it — if we don’t acknowledge the value and autonomy of our physician associates, all of our advanced practice providers, organizations risk tremendous cost in losing engagement from the fastest-growing part of our healthcare workforce. So I think the risk of not doing it is far greater than any potential risk of making the change.
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