NCCPA UPDATE
FEBRUARY 2005
By Ron Pace, PA-C

During the recently held 2005 FAPA Recertification Review and Winter Symposium, we were extremely fortunate to have Mr. Bill Kohlhepp, MHA,PA-C, the NCCPA Chairman Elect, present a lecture on "The Latest on the NCCPA and Physician Assistant Recertification." It has been my privilege to count Bill as my friend for many years through our association with the AAPA and our mutual activities with the national organization. Bill serves this year as the Chairman Elect of the NCCPA, and he is well qualified for this position. Everything I heard from him at this presentation indicates he is going to be an outstanding Chairman and I think we can expect even better things from the NCCPA in the future.

In recent years a number of grass roots PAs had become somewhat disenfranchised from the NCCPA and the AAPA due to changes made in logging CME. A couple of years ago the NCCPA decided it would be best that they should log all the CME for NCCPA certification and deleted the AAPA's CME logging privileges long associated with AAPA membership. Those were some trying times for many of us and there were some heated discussions with the AAPA and NCCPA on many levels over the issue. However, through some serious negotiations and discussions, the concerns of those opposed were more than adequately addressed and resolved. The NCCPA leadership listened and responded in a most positive way. It took a little time for some of us to realize the neccessity and wisdom of this change to enhance and more professionally legitimize the certification process in the eyes of other professional associations and credentialling bodies. The AAPA retained the CME accreditation privileges, and the NCCPA serves as the logging entity for all certified PAs. The NCCPA and the AAPA are once again harmoniously linked professionally for the good of our profession, as they should be. They also work with the ARC-PA, which accredits PA programs, and APAP, the organization of physician assistants in academics. It is a multi-organizational effort that is taking place.

The NCCPA's job is not just to log our CME. Their mission is to assure that physician assistants meet professional standards of knowledge and skills. Logging our CME is just one of the tools that enables them to do this. They have to answer to PAs, the public, our patients, state licensing bodies, employers and credentialling bodies, insurance companies, physicians who employ us, and the PA academic community. They have to do so from a fair, unbiased and independent position so as to present the certification and recertification process as the essential indicator of professional competence for PAs and our profession. The certificate they issue has to have a professionally recognized value and it is their duty to see that it maintains that value. They have a tremendous job to do on our behalf.

So how do they do this?

• They randomly audit PAs who log CME which helps ensure the accuracy of CME submissions and enhance the professionalism of CME logging. Over 90% of audited PA pass the audit.
• They establish and administer a disciplinary policy for the denial or revocation of certification where PAs may be guilty of gross incompetence or unethical conduct, a necessary process for a profession such as ours.
• They educate physicians, medical boards, and employers, and others about the certification process.
• They are working hard to improve client services by improving access and response times by staff to PAs with certification questions and problems.
• They are working to develop a more "practice-friendly" PANRE (recertification exam).
• They review content of the exams to ensure an accurate reflection of current PA practice, knowledge, skills and abilities.
• They now provide initial certification testing windows for a total of 50 weeks each year.
• The recertification exam can now be done in the 5th or 6th year of your renewal cycle.
• They provide an alternate pathway, Pathway II, for those who do not want to take an examination.
• They provide an up to date website that is very user friendly to keep your NCCPA certification up to date and provide all the information you need to know about the certification process.

Here are some tips to help you maintain your certification:

1. Read all NCCPA correspondence sent to you.
2. Notify the NCCPA immediately of any address changes. (Even before you tell your mother.)
3. Know and understand the requirements.
4. Learn to use the NCCPA website and its' online functions.
5. Don't procrastinate.
6. Log CME online as you earn it.(It is simple and will take only a couple of minutes, and is almost idiot proof for those of you who are computer and internet challenged.)
7. Save your Category I CME documentation.
8. YOU, and only YOU, are personally responsible for your certification.
9. Get information about certification from the source - the NCCPA.
10. Take certification seriously - it may be your ticket to practice!

For more information about appeals processes, extensions for military PAs, and regaining certification, you can download the slide presentation given by Mr. Kohlhepp at the FAPA conference.

View NCCPA Slide Presentation
From 2005 Winter Symposium
In PDF Format

If there was one message to take home from the presentation it is this:

YOU and only YOU are responsible for your certification and maintaining it. Do not depend on or delegate to your wife, your office manager, your accountant, your nurse, or anyone else the responsibility to maintain this valuable document. Yours' is the name on it, and your license is the license that may depend on it's being current and up to date. Remember - YOU and only YOU !