PA Sign InMay 2012 NewsBlast
New “PA Professional Profile” Now Available Online
New Look, Better Usability
New Name, New Partnership for the nccPA Health Foundation
New CAQs Coming Soon in Pediatrics and Hospital Medicine
Special Administration of the Psychiatry Specialty Exam Announced
See Us at the AAPA Conference in Toronto
Call for PA Director-at-Large Applicants for the NCCPA Board
Look Who's Talking…NCCPA in the News
Reminder - Complete Certification Maintenance Requirements Early and Save
New “PA Professional Profile” Now Available Online
In March, NCCPA announced the upcoming launch of a new information-gathering system that will help measure the impact of the changes coming soon to the certification maintenance process. That new system—the PA Professional Profile—is now here.
In addition to providing information needed to assess the impact of those changes, the new Profile will help demonstrate the measurable impact that you and your PA colleagues have on health care.
Certified PAs will be prompted to complete the Professional Profile the next time they log in to the NCCPA Web site. It is replacing other surveys and information-gathering tools used by NCCPA to collect important data about certified PAs in one place that is easily accessible to the individual as well. PAs can update their Professional Profile any time, creating the most complete and representative dataset about certified PAs.
After completing the Profile the first time on their next visit to our Web site, PAs will be prompted to review and update it during every two-year certification maintenance cycle. Completing the Profile should take 10 minutes or less.
“The information certified PAs provide through the new Profile will paint a much clearer picture about PA practice than anyone has today,” says Janet J. Lathrop, MBA, NCCPA president/CEO. “That information will be incredibly valuable to everyone concerned with understanding, researching, and promoting the profession of certified PAs.”
The data gathered is invaluable information about PA practice in the U.S. that – when aggregated –will help NCCPA provide much-needed information to third-party payers, national policy-makers, those involved in healthcare workforce research, and others who require a better understanding of the role and value of certified PAs in health care systems. Some of the data also will inform NCCPA's exam development efforts and ongoing evaluation of the relevance and impact of certification and the new certification maintenance process.
The information PAs provide through the online PA Professional Profile system will be treated confidentially. When data is shared or research is conducted, names and other identifiers will always be removed, and data will only be reported in the aggregate.
To view and complete your PA Professional Profile, sign in at www.nccpa.net today!
Be the first to see NCCPA's new Web site when you sign in to complete your PA Professional Profile! In redesigning the site, we focused on better navigation, particularly on the PAs' secure homepage. We have designed the secure site so that PAs can see at a glance what you need to do to maintain certification and CAQs, and we separated current cycles and future cycles in a new tabbed format.
The new site features our new logo, which we hope you agree is a modern reflection of an organization that is committed to “Certification. Excellence.” Look for our video series to be updated with the new look and feel in coming weeks.
We will continue to work on improving our Web site, such as the CME logging process, as we incorporate the new changes to certification maintenance coming in 2014.
New Name, New Partnership for the nccPA Health Foundation
The nccPA Health Foundation (formerly known as the NCCPA Foundation) was recently selected by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as its official partner for the provision of data about the physician assistant profession.
HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable. Its National Center for Workforce Analysis helps promote the supply and distribution of well-prepared health professionals and other workers to assure access to high quality, efficient care for the nation. The Center seeks to be the most trusted source for health workforce data and information for the nation, and the nccPA Health Foundation is honored to have been selected to provide data on the PA profession.
“We are excited about our new focus and the opportunities we now have to partner with other organizations, agencies and leaders within and beyond the PA profession to collectively make a much bigger impact on health,” said Foundation Chair Disty Pearson, PA-C.
The name change signals a much larger shift for the nccPA Health Foundation.
“The new name better conveys our vision for this organization, which at the highest level is improving the public's health and access to affordable care,” says the Foundation's president/CEO, Anita Duhl Glicken, MSW. “We will pursue that by advancing the role of certified PAs in improving health.”
The nccPA Health Foundation's work will be focused in three areas:
- Informing workforce research and planning by annually reporting data on the profession and supporting innovative research to transform practice and enhance patient care through PA practice.
- Providing education and resources that advance the PA profession nationally and internationally.
- Recognizing and rewarding transformative and innovative practices with an emphasis on high-performing teams featuring certified PAs.
More details about the work of the Foundation will be available online later this summer with the launch of a new Web site.
New CAQs Coming Soon in Pediatrics and Hospital Medicine
At its most recent meeting, the NCCPA Board of Directors approved the development of Certificates of Added Qualifications (CAQs) in pediatrics and hospital medicine.
Specialty-specific requirements in the areas of CME, experience and procedures/patient cases will be developed later this year with input from physicians and PAs in those specialties. In the meantime, PAs who have identified themselves to NCCPA as practitioners of those specialties will be asked to complete a practice analysis survey this summer that will inform the development of the specialty exam content blueprint.
If you are a PA practicing in pediatrics or hospital medicine, please be sure to complete your PA Professional Profile as soon as possible so we can include you on that practice analysis survey. We need a full and accurate understanding of what PAs are doing in those specialties, and your input is critical to that effort.
Registration for the new CAQs will open sometime in 2013, and the first pediatrics and hospital medicine exams will be offered in 2014.
Special Administration of the Psychiatry Specialty Exam Announced - Revised to Reflect Change in Exam Date
The Psychiatry Specialty Exam, the final step in the pursuit of NCCPA's Psychiatry CAQ, will be offered at an Atlanta Pearson VUE center on Sunday, October 21. The exam also will be available nationwide with the other CAQ exams on September 10.
The October administration was added as part of a pilot project to assess the efficacy of conducting CAQ exams in conjunction with large gatherings of specialty PAs. This pilot administration will follow a three-day psychiatry CME course conducted in Atlanta by the Association of Physician Associates in Psychiatry. NCCPA is not involved with the content or administration of the course.
If this pilot administration is successful, NCCPA may offer similar stand-alone exam administrations in conjunction with other events in 2013.
PAs will be able to register for the August administration of the Psychiatry Specialty Exam later this summer. Registration is open now for the September administration of all CAQ exams online. Read more about CAQ requirements and register online at http://www.nccpa.net/Psychiatry.
See Us at the AAPA Conference in Toronto!
NCCPA staff and leaders will be in Canada to meet and greet conference-goers in the AAPA Annual Conference registration area. We will be available Fri., 12-7:00 p.m. and Sat.-Tues., 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Those who stop in will leave with gifts from NCCPA displaying our new look! While there, complete your PA Professional Profile, and be automatically registered for a chance to win an iPad from the nccPA Health Foundation.
Call for PA Director-at-Large Applicants for the NCCPA Board
Have you ever wanted to get more involved with the work of NCCPA? We are currently seeking applicants to fill a PA director-at-large vacancy on our Board of Directors.
NCCPA's Board includes PAs, physicians and health care executives appointed by 13 national health-related organizations. They are joined by two public representatives and four PA directors at large.
Those director-at-large positions provide qualified, certified PAs the opportunity to actively participate in policy development and decisions affecting PA certification. The new director will begin a four-year term on January 1, 2013.
Interested? Read more and complete the application online at http://www.nccpa.net/News before the June 29 deadline.
Look Who's Talking…NCCPA in the News
Understanding the New Certification Maintenance Process: Read it in your copy of PA Professional, or sign in at http://www.aapa.org/news_and_publications/publications.aspx to read it online.
A Physician's Perspective on Certification Maintenance Changes: Read this JAAPA blog posting at http://www.jaapa.com/a-physicians-perspective-on-certification-maintenance-changes/article/238050/?DCMP=EMC-JAAPA_Musings.
Avoiding the PA Disciplinary Review Process: In this News-Line for PAs article, NCCPA medical adviser, Katherine Adamson, PA-C, MMS, MA, wraps up a three-part series about NCCPA's disciplinary review process by describing a number of issues, beyond abuse of controlled substances and the prescription pad, that can result in a PA facing a disciplinary sanction from NCCPA. She also provides advice on how to respond to NCCPA's background questions.
Reminder - Complete Certification Maintenance Requirements Early and Save!
The final deadline for earning and logging 100 CME credits and paying the $130 certification maintenance fee for the 2010-2012 cycle is December 31, 2012.
However, if you submit the 100 credits and pay the fee by June 30, 2012, you can save $50! The discount will be reflected on the payment screen of your personal certification record at https://www.nccpa.net/PA/Default.aspx.
First-time CME loggers may have different options. To learn about those options, go to http://www.nccpa.net/ContinuingMedicalEducation.
