PANRE every 10 years??

What's New?

Beginning in 2014, certified physician assistants will transition to a 10-year certification maintenance cycle, a change from the current six-year certification maintenance and retesting requirement that has been in effect since recertification was first introduced in 1981.

That change is accompanied by the institution of new, more specific continuing medical education (CME) requirements: 20 of the 50 Category I CME credits certified PAs are already required to obtain every two years must be earned through self-assessment CME or performance improvement CME (PI-CME).

PAs who earn initial certification or who regain certification by passing an exam in 2014 will begin a 10-year cycle.

PAs whose current six-year certification maintenance cycle (recertification cycle) ends in 2014 will be the first currently certified PAs to move to the new certification maintenance process; those are PAs who must pass PANRE in their fifth year (2013) or their sixth year (2014). They will be able to begin earning and logging CME credits under the new process on May 1, 2014.

Others will transition to the new 10-year cycle over the following five years as they complete their final six-year certification maintenance cycle.

These changes are the result of discussions that spanned eight years, as NCCPA leaders worked first to define the set of competencies critical for effective PA practice and then to determine how to effectively integrate appropriate competencies into the certification maintenance process. That effort included multiple discussions with leaders of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) and the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA), a public comment period during which all certified PAs were invited to respond to potential changes, and a pilot study.

"We know that the majority of medical boards have now implemented similar changes that licensing authorities feel will serve both the public and the medical profession. The NCCPA initiative is consistent with the medical community's movement toward this practice," said AAPA President Robert L. Wooten, PA-C. "I appreciate that NCCPA's leaders have taken their time with these discussions and have sought input from AAPA and others throughout their consideration of changes to the certification maintenance process."

Later this spring, NCCPA will launch a new information-gathering system that will help measure the impact of these changes. Certified PAs will receive more information about the new "PA Professional Profile" in the coming weeks and will be prompted to complete it within the next couple of months to establish the baseline for later impact studies. Then they will be prompted to update it at least once during every two-year CME cycle.

http://www.nccpa.net/CertMain.aspx