The American Academy of Physician Assistants is adopting "physician associate" as the official title for the PA profession.
The AAPA House of Delegates passed the resolution May 24 in a 198-to-68 vote. The change has been several years in the making. In 2018, AAPA hired a healthcare marketing research and branding firm to determine the best title and marketing strategy for the profession, according to MedPage Today.
Implementing the new title internally is expected to take several years and will cost about $21.6 million, according to AAPA.
PAs should not refer to themselves as "physician associates" until legislative and regulatory changes are made to incorporate the new title, the organization said.