Section 3209.10 Of Chapter 1. General Provisions From California Labor Code >> Division 4. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 1.
3209.10
. (a) Medical treatment of a work-related injury required to
cure or relieve the effects of the injury may be provided by a state
licensed physician assistant or nurse practitioner, acting under the
review or supervision of a physician and surgeon pursuant to
standardized procedures or protocols within their lawfully authorized
scope of practice. The reviewing or supervising physician and
surgeon of the physician assistant or nurse practitioner shall be
deemed to be the treating physician. For the purposes of this
section, "medical treatment" includes the authority of the nurse
practitioner or physician assistant to authorize the patient to
receive time off from work for a period not to exceed three calendar
days if that authority is included in a standardized procedure or
protocol approved by the supervising physician. The nurse
practitioner or physician assistant may cosign the Doctor's First
Report of Occupational Injury or Illness. The treating physician
shall make any determination of temporary disability and shall sign
the report.
(b) The provision of subdivision (a) that requires the cosignature
of the treating physician applies to this section only and it is not
the intent of the Legislature that the requirement apply to any
other section of law or to any other statute or regulation. Nothing
in this section implies that a nurse practitioner or physician
assistant is a physician as defined in Section 3209.3.