Summary of Board Actions and Issues
The NCCPA Board of Directors met on August 27, 2004. The following summary describes actions taken and issues addressed at that meeting.
Determination of PANRE Passing Standard
The Board continued its discussion regarding the recommendation of the 2004 Content-Based Standard-Setting Committee that was constituted and convened earlier this year to review the PANRE passing standard. After engaging in an intensive multi-step modified Angoff procedure, the committee set a new passing standard at 58 percent. This new standard will go into effect with the 2005 administrations of the exam.
NCCPA revisits the standard for each NCCPA examination every three years.
Simplification of CME Earning Requirements
The Board approved a recommendation from the Certification Maintenance Committee to simplify the CME earning requirements without affecting their substance by simply eliminating the distinction between clinical and professional hours. Current policy requires PAs to earn 100 hours of CME every two years including 50 Category I hours; 80 clinical hours; and 40 clinical, Category I hours. The original intent of the requirement for a minimum number of clinical hours was to ensure that PAs were pursuing an appropriate number of purely clinical CME opportunities. However, after reviewing statistics regarding the actual number of clinical and professional hours logged, the committee and then the Board concluded that the additional rules are unnecessary. Effective with the 2003-2005 CME earning cycle, certificate holders are simply required to earn and log at least 100 CME hours, at least 50 of which must be Category I.
Other Issues and Decisions
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The Board discussed the current state and validity of the Pathway II recertificationoption. Noting that the future of the take-at-home exam would best be considered in light of the definition of PA competencies currently under consideration by NCCPA’s Eligibility Committee and representatives from AAPA, APAP and ARC-PA, the issue was slated for discussion during a joint meeting of the Eligibility and Research & Test Development Committees to be conducted in November. Representatives from AAPA and other organizations will be invited to participate in that meeting as resources.
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The Board approved a new research policy that clarifies under what conditions NCCPA will provide data and/or funds to external researchers. Also, the Board approved the creation of a Research Review Subcommittee to review research requests and proposals.
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The Board voted to discontinue the joint grants program conducted with the Association of PA Programs since 2000. In its place, NCCPA will make an annual donation of $10,000 to APAP’s small grants program. It was also decided to allocate funds to support a workshop at the 2005 fall APAP conference.
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The Board reviewed and accepted the 2003 financial audit report and approved minor revisions to NCCPA’s investment policies.
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The Board made a three-year annual commitment to contribute $10,000 to the Society for the Preservation of PA History. Those funds are to be distributed from earnings on NCCPA investments instead of operating funds.
Next Meeting
The Board and its committees will meet November 12-14, 2004 in Albuquerque, N.M.
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