Family and Medical Leave Act

The Department of Labor issued 200 pages of new FMLA regulations on November 17, 2008 (effective January 16, 2009). The good news: they include PAs in the definition of health care providers. DOL also revised the FMLA certification form WH-380, deleting all references to care by a "physician's [sic] assistant under direct supervision..." PAs were inadvertently omitted from the definition when the first FMLA regulations were issued in 1995. Other parts of the regulation were interpreted to allow PAs to certify claims for FMLA benefits, but not being in the defined list of providers was a problem. AAPA has been pressing for a correction all these years. This is the first time the rules have been changed since '95. You gotta have patience to do this job!