August 26, 2016

On August 11th NCCPA announced that effective immediately, self-assessment CME and PI-CME are no longer required. What does this mean for PAs?

In 2014 NCCPA began transitioning PAs to a 10-year certification maintenance process that incorporated requirements for self-assessment and performance improvement (PI) CME credit. With the first PAs who transitioned to the new 10-year process facing a December 2016 logging deadline, NCCPA evaluated the self-assessment and PI-CME options currently available to PAs and determined they were insufficient to maintain self-assessment and PI-CME as requirements.

For many PAs, self-assessment and PI-CME were only on the horizon, not demanding attention until they transitioned to the new 10-year process at some point in the next few years. Other PAs, however, have already expended resources participating in self-assessment and PI-CME activities.

PAs who have already completed self-assessment or PI-CME activities will still be able to log these and will actually receive an additional benefit. Acknowledging the evidence of the positive impact of self-assessment and PI-CME on outcomes, NCCPA also announced new incentives for completing self-assessment and PI-CME activities: PAs will receive an additional 50% weighting for all self-assessment credits logged with NCCPA and the first 20 PI-CME credits logged during every two-year cycle will now be doubled.

For those PAs who have already completed and logged self-assessment and PI-CME activities, the additional credit weighting will be applied retroactively. Changes will be reflected in the NCCPA’s logging system and individual PA dashboards at some point during the next few months.  

PAs should be aware that the additional weighting for self-assessment and PI-CME activities applies only to NCCPA certification. States that require CME for license renewal purposes do not apply any additional weighting for self-assessment or PI-CME. For state license purposes, PAs must claim those credits exactly as awarded on their CME certificates.

Many PAs have questions about these changes, how and when it will affect them, and how it relates to them and their own career path. You can find the answers to many common questions in our Certification Maintenance FAQ.

AAPA will continue to provide and accredit high quality, affordable self-assessment and PI-CME activities to keep PAs ahead of the curve as healthcare moves toward a value-based system. With the new weighted logging system, PAs now have an additional incentive to participate in these interactive and impactful activities. 

- See more at: https://www.aapa.org/twocolumn.aspx?id=6442451548#sthash.Ld6A1VVT.dpuf