Overview
Pursuit of continuing medical education (CME) is an integral component of NCCPA certification. Every two years, (years two, four and six of the certification maintenance cycle),
all PA-C designees must submit their 100 CME hours online at the discounted rate or on a paper
logging form at the regular rate.
To avoid the late processing fee, you may only log CME earned between May 1 of the year your current certification was issued and June 30 of the certification expiration year. (For example, PA-C designees whose certifications expire this year must have earned their CME between May 1, 2006 and June 30, 2008.)
Special Guidelines for New Certification Holders
If this is the first time you’ve logged CME since passing a 2006 PANCE exam, you may log any CME earned as of the date your certification was issued. Also for newly certified PAs whose certifications are issued after June 30, the CME earning and logging deadline for the first two-year cycle will be extended to Dec. 31 of the certification expiration year, and the late processing fee will be waived. Please note: The Dec. 31 earning and logging deadline is a special, one-time extension only.
For all CME earned or logged July 1-December 31 of the certification expiration year, a one-time $100 late processing fee will apply.
CME Terms and Requirements
| • |
CME
consists of clinical and professional education
activities that serve to maintain, develop or
increase the knowledge, skills, and professional
performance and relationships that a physician
assistant uses to provide services for patients, the
public and the profession. CME can be classified as a Certification Program,
Category I or Category II. |
| • | Certification Program: These activities include certification and recertification programs that are preapproved (sponsored) by the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) for a maximum number of Category I hours regardless of who presents the programs or where they are presented. Completion of any program is necessary to log the hours toward the CME requirement. View a list of Certification Programs. |
| • | Category I CME: At least 50 CME hours must be classified by AAPA as Category I (Preapproved) CME by one of the following sponsors: AAPA, AMA, ACCME, AOACCME or AAFP. Some ways Category I CME hours can be earned include seminars and conferences. The CME program provider will issue you a document, indicating the number of CME hours you’ve earned during each program. Visit www.aapa.org for more details from AAPA regarding Category I (Preapproved) CME programs. |
| • | Category II CME: The remainder of the 100 required hours may be classified as Category I CME or Category II (Elective) CME. Category II includes other practice-related, voluntary, self-learning activities, such as journal reading, independent study, preceptorships, and any medically-related postgraduate course, excluding courses taken in an actual PA program. Category II hours are earned on an hour-by-hour basis. There is no minimum requirement for Category II activities. |
| • | Provider: The CME provider is the organization that offered the seminar, conducted the training, etc. Usually, providers are associations, hospitals, schools, pharmaceutical companies, or other health care organizations. You will need to enter the provider name when you log your Category I CME hours. |
| • | Sponsor: By definition, all Category I activities are sponsored (approved for credit) by one of the following:
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For a calendar of upcoming CME activities, click here.
**You should keep your Category I CME documentation for your current CME cycle and your last CME cycle. For example, if you are currently on a 2006-2008 CME cycle you would need to keep that documentation and the 2004-2006 CME cycle documentation. We do not audit Category II CME. This is the policy for NCCPA, not the state medical boards. You will need to check with your state medical board regarding their auditing requirements.
Log CME Online or Check the Status of Your Certification
CME Audit
To ensure the honesty and accuracy of the CME logging, review and approval processes, NCCPA audits the Category I CME submissions for randomly selected PAs after each two-year certification maintenance cycle.
PAs selected for auditing are required to submit appropriate documentation to support their Category I hours. Those who reported Category I CME hours that cannot be substantiated or that were erroneously reported and approved as Category I activities will retain certification but will be audited again during the next two-year certification maintenance cycle. In the second audit, PAs are required to submit appropriate documentation as they log their Category I hours. If all required hours are not earned, logged and documented before the end of the certification expiration year, certification will lapse. Beginning with the 2006-2008 audit, PAs who fail the audit will have to make up undocumented hours, pay a re-audit fee and will be audited again in one of the next three CME cycles.
Except as provided above, PAs who fail to respond satisfactorily within six weeks of receipt of the audit notification letter during any audit may, at the discretion of NCCPA, be subject to the immediate loss of certification. PAs who refuse to submit to an audit may be subject to the immediate loss of certification. During any audit, PAs who are discovered to have knowingly falsified documentation or attempted fraud in reporting hours may be subject to the immediate loss of certification.
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