At its May 29, 2002 meeting, the Board of Directors of the NCCPA approved three policy revisions that should strengthen the eligibility requirements for initial certification and help protect the security of the exam process.

For more than two years, NCCPA’s Board and committees have been discussing ways to clarify and strengthen eligibility requirements for the initial certification exam to maintain the close and vital link between graduation from an accredited PA program and certification. At its May meeting, the Board clarified that for PA graduates to be deemed to have graduated from an accredited program, their PA educational program must have been accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education of the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) at the time of their matriculation. That new policy will apply to students who matriculate on or after January 1, 2003. Under the older, looser standard, students were deemed to have graduated from an "accredited program" if it was accredited at any time during their enrollment.

At the same meeting, the Board reconsidered NCCPA’s policy of awarding lifetime eligibility for PANCE, the initial certification exam, with no limitations on the number of opportunities one has to pass the exam. Again, in the interest of strengthening the eligibility requirements for PANCE, the Board approved a new policy that gives new graduates six attempts to pass PANCE and six years in which to do so. That new policy goes into effect for PAs who are deemed eligible to take PANCE on or after January 1, 2003.

According to NCCPA records, fewer than one-tenth of one percent of all PAs ever certified did not pass PANCE within their first six attempts.

"These policy changes were made after years of consideration, with input from ARC-PA, AAPA and APAP, and the NCCPA Board feels that the clearer definition of an ‘accredited program’ and the new limitations on PANCE eligibility shore up the initial certification process," says NCCPA President Katherine J. Adamson, PA-C, MMS, MA.

Finally, as NCCPA moves towards offering PANCE year-round with 50 weeks of testing planned for 2003, in the interest of exam security it is important to put some safeguards in place to limit the number of times an individual may take the exam in a short period of time. Therefore, the Board determined that effective for all PANCE examinees beginning in January 2003, individuals will be limited to the number of times they may take PANCE to one time in any single 90-day period or three times in a calendar year, whichever is fewer.

For more information about the May Board meeting, you may access a meeting summary online at NCCPA Connect.

The end of May brought AAPA’s annual conference in Boston and with it many opportunities for enhanced organizational relationships. Throughout the conference week, I was impressed with how far we’ve come in our relationship with AAPA. The atmosphere at this year’s conference was one of collegiality, and the renewed spirit of cooperation and mutual respect was visible in the House of Delegates, in NCCPA’s open forum and in many other formal and informal meetings throughout the week. Executive Director Janet Lathrop, other NCCPA leaders and I had the opportunity to meet with leaders of APAP, the Surgical Congress and others in addition to AAPA leaders.

We’re also finding more and more opportunities to connect with PAs across the country. This year we’ve accepted invitations to address and meet with PAs at 14 conferences around the country. Board members and staff are also speaking to students at more than 20 PA programs. The opportunity to interact with fellow PAs face to face is invaluable, providing a venue to hear your concerns directly, making all the hassles of traveling and time away from work and home worthwhile. This person to person interaction is proving crucial as we continue to fine tune our processes towards the goal of excellence in all we do.

If you’d like an NCCPA representative to address your PA society at an upcoming meeting, please just let us know. And as always, your feedback and input on anything NCCPA is doing is welcome. You may e-mail me at kathya@nccpa.net, or contact staff at nccpa@nccpa.net.

This summer NCCPA will randomly select the first group of PAs whose Category I CME hours will be audited. As those PAs finish logging CME hours for the 2000-2002 certification maintenance cycle, they will be notified of their selection.

Those PAs will be asked to submit original or legible copies of documents that substantiate completion of each of their Category I CME activities. Acceptable documentation includes certificates of completion from the CME provider, a hospital-generated list of programs attended, a completed AAPA Annual Conference CME Planner or written verification of attendance and hours earned from the CME provider. Other documentation may be considered at the discretion of NCCPA.

"This should not be an onerous process. We expect the vast majority of PAs to have no problems providing acceptable documentation," says Executive Director Janet Lathrop. "Our focus during this audit is educational—not punitive."

PAs with 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. Only PAs who refuse to submit any documentation or who have falsified documentation or otherwise attempted fraud in reporting hours will be subject to the loss of certification.

Streamlining and perfecting data entry methods have been paramount, as NCCPA strives towards delivering optimum customer service to certified or certifying PAs.

A quality assurance position was established in 2000, and the function recently expanded to include a second quality assurance administrator.

Says Anna Lawrence, NCCPA quality assurance administrator, "We know that the work we do here can affect PAs’ ability to find or keep a job. We appreciate the gravity of mistakes and the importance of doing things right the first time."

In addition to guarding against data entry errors, the two-person quality assurance department monitors the information provided to PAs via the telephone and works to ensure that service is delivered in a timely, effective manner.

Says Quality Assurance Administrator Bill McKenzie, "NCCPA is continually striving to make the certification process efficient and positive for PAs. We know that certification can affect licensure and employment, and we take our work very seriously. Perfection may be impossible to achieve, but it’s what we’re aiming for."

NCCPA Connect has a new look and several key new features that should make your online experience easier and more convenient than ever before.

Certified PAs may now sign in to their personal certification record from any page in the Web site. And after signing in, you may now authorize the release of information to state licensing boards, employers or others who need exam results or confirmation of your eligibility for an exam, or you can just ask us to provide them with verification of your certification.

We’ve also established a self-service certification verification system in the public pages of the Web site. Anyone can now verify certification of a PA online by clicking on "Verify PA-C" and entering the NCCPA certificate or social security number of the PA.

The new site also includes:

"We’re excited about the Web site’s new look, improved navigation system and new functionality," says Ragan Morrow, NCCPA’s director of communications and certification maintenance. "If you haven’t visited the site in awhile, give it another try. We think you’ll find it much easier to find the information you need quickly."

Our new Web site is just the latest in a series of improvements in NCCPA’s services. Since October 2000, we’ve launched a series of interactive Web based services that allow PAs to log CME, register for exams, complete the reregistration process and more. We also installed a new interactive telephone system in March that gives certified PAs access to details about their certification status, outstanding requirements and much more 24 hours a day. Since then approximately 60 percent of NCCPA’s callers have been able to get the information they need without any wait through the automated phone system, and the others have been able to talk to staff with an average wait time of less than 30 seconds.

We’ll continue to work to improve our services, and we hope you’ll let us know how we’re doing. Please send your comments to nccpa@nccpa.net.