Synergy - May/June 2013 - 16

industry feature

Coming in 2014
The National Commission on Certification of
Physician Assistants (NCCPA) has announced
a new certification maintenance process
for physician assistants beginning in 2014 .
While the initial certification process will not
change, the new certification maintenance
process features a new 10-year certification
maintenance cycle with new CME
requirements . The new process will appear
very familiar to medical staff professionals
(MSPs), as the design is similar to that of
the Maintenance of Certification® process
established by the American Board of Medical
Specialties in 2000 for physicians . Because
PAs are trained and educated similarly
to physicians, and therefore share similar
diagnostic and therapeutic reasoning, the
certification maintenance process for PAs also
mirrors that of the physician to a large degree .

Explanation of self-assessment and PI-CME activities
Self-assessment is the process of conducting
a systematic review of one’s own
performance, knowledge base or skill set,
usually for the purpose of improving future
performance, expanding knowledge or
honing skills .
Self-assessment activities, in their most
common form, are simply an in-depth
medical knowledge test . You may take it as
many times as you like in order to gauge
where your own personal knowledge gaps
exist . It is intended to help you identify
where you need CME or additional
self-study in order to improve your
knowledge .

PI-CME is a PA-centric, data driven activity . It
focuses on the needs of the individual PA . It
is made up of three stages that include:
1 . Stage A – Perform a self-assessment by
comparing current practice in a specific
clinical area with national benchmarks,
performance guidelines and data
submitted by other PAs .
2 . Stage B – Develop and follow a plan
to improve practice based on your
assessment . This will require engaging in
educational activities, collecting resources
to use in daily practice, etc .
3 . Stage C – Re-assess practice to measure
the effects of improvement plan .
The entire process is meant to be reflective
and meaningful to PA clinical practice .

Under the new certification maintenance,
there are two major changes:
1 .

The requirement for the recertification
examination will be extended to every
10 years .

2 .

There will be two new CME
categories: self-assessment (SA) and
performance improvement CME
(PI-CME) . (see text box)

PAs will continue to earn 100 CME credits every
two years, but within the 50 credits required for
Category I, 20 credits will have to be earned via
a self-assessment or PI-CME activity .

Timeline
The transition to the new certification
maintenance process begins in 2014 . PAs who
earn initial certification or who regain certification
in 2014 will begin a 10-year cycle . Others will
transition over after their next re-certification
cycle; all PAs will be transitioned by 2019 .
Reasons for change:
•	 A	desire	for	greater	accountability	and	
improved quality in healthcare
•	 Promoting	transition	from	episodic	
learning to a professional development
approach to lifelong learning
•	 Better	correlation	of	required	CME	
activities to the individual PA’s practice
•	 Improved	integration	of	all	six	PA	
competencies into the certification
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SYNERGY MaY/JUNE 2013

Category I
(50 credits)

Category I or II
(50 credits)

20 credits in self-assessment and/or PI-CME
In every two-year CME cycle, PAs can earn a combination of PI-CME and self-assessment
credit, or just concentrate on one of those activities in the two-year CME cycle . At the
end of eight years (4 two-year CME cycles) PAs must have earned at least 40 category
1 CME credits through self-assessment and at least 40 category 1 CME credits through
PI-CME activities . There are no self-assessment or PI-CME requirements in the 5th CME
cycle (years nine and 10), the cycle during which they must pass a recertification exam .
During the 5th CME cycle, PAs need to earn 50 traditional category 1 CME credits and
50 category 1 or 2 CME credits .
1st CME Cycle
2nd CME Cycle
3rd CME Cycle
4th CME Cycle
5th CME Cycle

During each cycle, earn 100 CME credits including 50 Cat . I credits
with 20 earned through self-assessment or PI-CME activities .
By the end of your 4th CME cycle, you must have earned at least 40
Category I CME credits through SA activities and at least 40 Category I
CME credits through PI activities .
Earn 100 CME credits including 50 Category I, and pass PANRE
Used with permission. Source: www.nccpa.net 2013
http://www.nccpa.net
Synergy - May/June 2013

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