Rising health care costs is a hot topic that impacts your clients in very real ways. How are we going to care and pay for patient services in the coming decades? That is a question facing the health care industry as demand grows, while the physician shortage worsens and the possibility of further reform at the federal level remains uncertain.

Amid the uncertainty, one thing has become increasingly clear: cost-effective, qualified providers are a critical component of the equation, and highly educated certified physician assistants (PA-Cs), are prepared to perform many of the same duties ordinarily provided by physicians.

At the dawn of the profession, PAs practiced almost entirely in local primary care offices. Today, more than 70 percent of PAs now practice in non-primary care areas, such as emergency and hospital medicine, surgical specialties, psychiatry and other high-impact areas.