ADVANCE Blog for PAs : Certification

More Discussion on PAs and the Physician Shortage

Heather Simons — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:43:00 GMT

And so the health care reform debate continues... A recent article at Examiner.com champions PAs and NPs as a possible solution to the physician shortage. "Primary physician shortage spurs search for alternatives," by DC public policy examiner Alan Portner,...(read more)

Convicted Fake PA Gets 2 Years in California

Michael Gerchufsky — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

A California man has pleaded guilty to numerous felony counts for impersonating a PA and was sentenced to two years in prison. From the OC Register : Steve Armand Martinez, 60, San Juan Capistrano, pleaded guilty to four felony count of the unauthorized...(read more)

Comments on ARC-PA's Standards

Stephen Cornell — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:47:00 GMT

On the topic of ARC-PA’s standards for PA programs, I have two questions.

One, why does a PA program director need to be a PA or a physician? It certainly should be a consideration, but not a requirement.

At least two terrific PA educators were not PAs: PAEA immediate past president and University of Colorado Child Health Associate PA program interim director Anita Duhl Glicken, MSW, and former Northeastern University PA program director and APAP past president Suzanne Greenberg, MS.

In fact, a review of past APAP/PAEA presidents reveals several non-PAs: Ronald D. Garcia, Jesse Edwards, Denis Oliver, Stephen Gladhart and David Lewis.

Isn’t the pool of talented medical educators shallow enough? Why exclude qualified people simply because they are not PAs?

Also, why must PA program directors be currently certified? Many program directors do not remain in clinical practice. Current certification is seems irrelevant to the ability to run a quality PA program.

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NCCPA's Solution for Specialty PAs

Stephen Cornell — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:51:00 GMT

Back in May 2006, the NCCPA pledged to develop "a solution to meet the needs of specialty PAs."

Since that time, the NCCPA has done a great job creating productive debate about the problems facing PAs in specialties. But it really hasn't offered any solutions.

The NCCPA hasn't forgotten its pledge. At its August board of directors meeting in Banff, Canada, the NCCPA BOD again discussed the challenges facing specialty PAs and created a work group to come up with a solution proposal by mid-2010.

Discussion on Specialty Item Development
The Board engaged in a robust discussion regarding the potential need to begin development of specialty-related items to enhance NCCPA's current item pools and at the conclusion of the discussion authorized management to begin that process and provide regular reports to the Board. In a related discussion, the Board recognized that the organization had not resolved its response to the needs of specialty PAs and tasked an ad hoc workgroup to continue those discussions and offer a solution by mid-2010 to the Board for consideration. In so doing, the Board agreed that the organization should adopt as a philosophy that the evolving certification maintenance processes and the PA competencies should guide the workgroup's discussions.

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Meet the Practice-Focused PANRE

Stephen Cornell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:21:00 GMT

NCCPA has posted to its Web site information about the practice-focused PANRE.

Beginning in March 2009, PAs recertifying through PANRE will have a new choice to make. While 60% of the generalist exam will cover the same content as always, the remaining 40% can be directed in one of three areas:

Adult medicine

Surgery
Primary care

This new option gives PAs the opportunity to focus more of the exam on their general area of practice—or continue with “business as usual” by choosing the “primary care” option.

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10-Year PA Recertification Cycle?

Stephen Cornell — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:38:00 GMT

It seems as though Pennsylvania PA Bernie Stuetz's effort to increase the length PA recertification cycle to 10 years is gaining momemtum.

Stuetz wrote "A Plan to Revise PA Recertification" for ADVANCE in 2006 and introduced a related resolution at the 2007 AAPA House of Delegates.

Here's an excerpt from Stuetz's ADVANCE article.

Among the problems with the current recertification system is the lack of defining and proving competence in the PA profession. Another is the fact that PAs and physicians are being treated differently. PAs should recertify every 10 years, as the ABMS recommends for its physician specialty organizations. This could be gradually put in place to coincide with the dissolution of pathway II in 2010, as the American Board of Family Medicine is doing.

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