Summary of NCCPA Board Actions and Issues
The NCCPA Board of Directors met on Saturday, August 18, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia. The following summary describes the actions taken and issues addressed at that meeting.
Approved Clarified Language to the PANCE Eligibility Policy
The NCCPA Board of Directors approved a clarification to the PANCE eligibility policy prescribing that individuals who graduated after January 1, 2003 and who have never been certified have six years from their graduation from an accredited PA program or six attempts, whichever is fewer, to successfully pass PANCE. The primary policy clarification, which takes effect immediately, makes explicit the policy’s intent to require individuals who exceed the six-year limit or who fail PANCE six times to complete an unabridged ARC-PA accredited PA program to establish new eligibility for PANCE. The limited PANCE eligibility policy was first approved by the Board in 2002, and the clarifications were made in response to experience with individuals who had exceeded or were approaching the prescribed limits
Approved Elimination of Two-Year Certificates
The NCCPA Board of Directors approved the immediate elimination of the issuance of two-year certificates amid concerns about fraudulent credentials stemming from the practice of copying the NCCPA certificate and submitting it to third parties as proof of current certification. The Board affirmed that the only valid proof of NCCPA certification is primary source verification through the NCCPA. This change has the added benefit of helping the organization control costs for a growing population, which allows NCCPA to maintain its fee structure as the population grows.
Approved Elimination of Manual CME Logging
The NCCPA Board of Directors approved the elimination of the manual CME logging process effective for the 2008-2010 cycle. The change was driven by NCCPA’s commitment to break-even product costing, and a finding that the current $15 paper-logging fee does not adequately cover the cost for manual CME logging. The Board recognized that the efficiency of online logging had substantially reduced the number of manual loggers and directed management to develop educational tools to assist PAs in learning the online system.
Approved Recommendations Regarding the Practice-Focused PANRE
The NCCPA Board of Directors approved recommendations from the Research & Test Development committee regarding the format of the practice-focused PANRE in 2009. All exam items included on the practice-focused PANRE will be selected from the general item pool, and PAs will choose one of the following three practice areas to make up 40% of the exam questions: Primary Care, Adult Medicine, or Surgery. The Board adopted a limited number of modules for initial development to ensure sufficient quantities for psychometric analysis, equating and validation of performance data.
Continued Discussions on Expressed Needs of Specialty PAs
The NCCPA Board of Directors continued discussions regarding the expressed needs (i.e., specialty education, credentialing, etc.) of some specialty PA groups that have been uncovered by the Task Force on Specialty Recognition, including how NCCPA may take both an active and a facilitative role in the profession’s response to meeting those needs. It was agreed that the NCCPA would ask the NCCPA Foundation to organize and host a meeting of appropriate national organizations to share what has been learned and seek a cooperative response.
Adoption of NCCPA Vision Statement
At NCCPA’s strategic planning retreat in February, the Board initiated efforts to develop a vision statement and tasked management to continue those efforts and vet possible vision statements with the Governance Committee. Based on the committee’s recommendation, the Board approved the following vision statement: NCCPA: Promoting exemplary Physician Assistant practice through cutting edge assessment.
Other Issues & Decisions
- The NCCPA Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Denni J. Woodmansee, PA-C, from the Departments of Veterans Affairs.
- The Board approved a change in the process for collecting self-reported disciplinary information from PAs. Information is currently collected on a six-year basis when PAs apply for a recertification exam; but effective May 1, 2008, NCCPA will collect the information on a two-year basis at the time PAs begin logging CME for their new cycle.
- The Board approved changes in NCCPA’s Research Policy to narrow the scope of the policy to focus exclusively on requests for data. All requests for funding are considered by the NCCPA Foundation.
- Board members participated in a presentation on the roles and responsibilities of NCCPA’s Nominating Committee, including how Board members are elected to serve on the Executive Committee.
- Board members participated in informational updates, including presentations on high-fidelity patient simulators, NCCPA’s newly developed item banking and editing systems, and the development of the PA concept in Canada.
- The Board received a report from the NCCPA Foundation and discussed the Foundation’s long-term financial outlook in its role as a supporting organization. It was agreed NCCPA would revisit this topic during its strategic planning retreat in February 2008.
- The Board recognized outgoing American Academy of PA’s Executive Vice President Stephen C. Crane, PhD, MPH, for his years of dedicated service to the PA profession.
- The Board accepted for filing all Board and committee meeting minutes and committee reports since the May 2007 meeting.
Next Meeting
The Board and its committees will convene November 9-11, 2007 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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