These days, with white coats no longer strictly the attire of physicians and nurses' caps gone by the wayside, it's not always obvious to patients exactly what type of health professionals are providing their care. And with multiple types of midlevel providers now added to the mix, a number of states are taking steps to eliminate confusion and increase transparency, reports American Medical News.

Leading the movement is the American Medical Association's Truth in Advertising campaign, which encourages states to enact laws mandating that all healthcare professionals disclose their training and qualifications.

Model legislation drafted by the AMA would require practitioners to identify their license type in advertisements, wear a clearly visible photo ID badge when seeing patients and post their type of license in their offices. The AMA further recommends that physicians who have collaborative agreements with nonphysicians post in each office a schedule of regular hours when they will be there.

So far, California and Arizona have enacted laws requiring that any advertisements for medical services include the health professional's title and license type, while Illinois, since July, requires health professionals to post their license in their office and display a badge stating their license credentials during all patient encounters.

The most recent state to follow suit is Pennsylvania, amednews reports, with a law signed Nov. 23 by Gov. Edward Rendell stating that clinicians will by 2015 be required to wear photo ID badges that state their credentials in large block letters, with descriptions such as "physician" or "registered nurse."

"The idea is that you can read this instantly at a conversational distance," said John J. Laskas Jr., MD, a dermatologist in Glen Mills, Pa., and chair of the Pennsylvania Academy of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery's patient safety and scope of practice committee. "Then the patient knows and can make a judgment whether or not this is the level of expertise they need."

To learn more:
- read the article in American Medical News

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