Next year will usher in two positive changes for PAs pursuing recertification: the addition of Fall administrations of the recertification exams and the opportunity for PAs to take the exam as early as year five of the certification maintenance cycle.

New Fall Testing Windows
Next year, NCCPA will double the number of recertification exam administrations, offering Fall testing windows for both recertification exams in addition to the usual Spring administrations.

In 2001, the Physician Assistant National Recertifying Examination (PANRE) will be conducted during the months of March and August. Pathway II, the take-at-home version of the recertification exam, will be offered Feb. 5-Mar. 20 and Sept. 4-Oct. 16.

"The new exam schedule affords PAs greater flexibility and—for everyone scheduled to recertify in 2002 and beyond—more opportunities to attempt the exam," says Director of Certification Services Diane Boyd.

However, in the interest of the consistent application of policy, old rules will apply in 2001. PAs who are scheduled to recertify in 2001 may choose to take one of the exams during either the Spring or Fall administrations—but not both. Those who fail the exam but successfully log the required CME hours will be issued a new certificate valid through the end of 2002. They’ll be eligible to attempt the exam again in 2002.

New Policy, Early Examination
Beginning with the population of PAs scheduled for recertification in 2002, new rules apply. They may take the exam as early as year five (2001) of the certification maintenance cycle and may take it up to four times in two years. (Less than 1 percent of PAs fail the exam more than twice.) Exam registration materials will be mailed to all eligible candidates in early September.

Beginning in 2001, PAs who have allowed their certification to lapse have new options for regaining it.

Provided they meet other requirements, PAs may regain certification by passing one of the recertification exams (PANRE or Pathway II). Previously, the only vehicle for regaining certification was PANCE, the longer, more expensive initial certification exam.

To be eligible to regain certification via the recertification exams, PAs must have completed six year’s worth of CME requirements—300 hours earned in the appropriate categories during the six-year period ending on the exam application deadline date. Also, Pathway II candidates must also fulfill that exam’s elective component requirement.

PAs who are unable to meet the CME requirement are still eligible to regain certification by passing PANCE.

To request exam application materials, the CME Logging for Regaining Certification Form, or information about Pathway II’s elective component requirement, call one of our information specialists at 770.734.4500, or e-mail your request to Cindy Allen, certification maintenance assistant, at cindya@nccpa.net.

More than 90 percent of physician assistants’ employers require the PA-C designation or report that it has a positive influence on hiring and other decisions, according to a recent NCCPA survey.

NCCPA conducted the telephone survey of 100 PA employers, individuals who hire or evaluate the credentials of PAs, to assess, among other things, the value they place on the PA-C credential.

Eighty percent of employers surveyed reported that they require all PAs to be certified by NCCPA. Other findings include the following;

·75 percent reported that the credential has a positive influence on hiring decisions,
60 percent said the PA-C positively influ- ences decisions to grant promotions or pay increases,
55 percent said that the designation has a positive influence on scope of practice decisions and
40 percent reported that PA-C designees were more likely to be compensated at a higher level than non-certified PAs.

"These findings demonstrate the many ways in which maintaining certification, even when it’s not required by their employers, can pay off for PAs," said Kate Hill, MEd, NCCPA’s executive director.

The survey of employers was part of a larger research project that included surveys of third-party payers, state licensing boards, leaders of medical societies and PAs. More information from those research efforts will be reported in future issues.

The employer telephone interviews were conducted earlier this year by Wirthlin Worldwide, an international research firm. The margin of error is +/-9.8 percent.

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The first computer-based administration of the Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam (PANRE), conducted earlier this year, received positive reviews from the 2,805 PAs who took the exam.

According to an exit survey conducted at the end of each PA’s exam, the computer-based testing experience was a convenient one. Ninety-three percent reported that they were able to schedule their testing appointment at a convenient time. Almost three-quarters of all test takers (73 percent) traveled 50 miles or less to the testing center, including 28 percent who had to drive 10 miles or less.

Those two factors—the flexibility of scheduling exams within a multi-week window and the convenience of over 300 testing locations—represent two of the greatest advantages of computer-based testing, according to Nikki Tullis, exam administration manager.

Prior to the introduction of the computer-based PANRE exam, the test was conducted on only two days each year in just 117 locations.

Examinees also reported that the time allotted for completion of the exam was "about right" (59 percent) or more than enough (32 percent). Only eight percent felt they needed more time to finish the test.

Also, 60 percent said the difficulty of the exam questions was "about right."

The chief complaint among the 39 percent who reported that the exam was too difficult was related to the general nature and broad scope of the exam, which make it particularly difficult for PAs who have been practicing for years in a single specialty.

Many of those PAs are choosing to take the Pathway II recertification exam, the take-at-home, open-book version of the test, says Tullis.

However, even the majority of those who found the exam "too difficult" passed. More than 98 percent of those who were attempting the recertification exam for the first time passed, as did 94 percent of the PAs who were retaking the exam after failing it previously.

Those figures are up slightly from 1999 PANRE passing rates, which were 96.8 percent for first-time test takers and 93.3 percent for others.

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