                     ANALYSIS


                            Background


          A new category of health care professional called the

"physician assistant"1 was created in 1970 by the enactment of the

Physician's Assistant Practice Act (the "Act") as section 3500 et

seq. of the Business and Professions Code. The purposes of the Act

are stated in section 3500 as follows:


          "In its concern with the growing shortage and

     geographic maldistribution ofto encourage the

     utilization of physician's assistants by physicians, and

     to provide that existing legal constraints should not be

     an unnecessary hindrance to the more effective provision

     of health care services. It is also the purpose of this

     chapter to allow for innovative development of programs

     for the education of physician's assistants."


          The Act provides for the licensing of physician

assistants following examination to establish that applicants meet

education and training requirements. The Act does not undertake to

define the scope of practice of the physician assistant. Instead

Section 3502 of the Act provides that "a physician assistant may

perform