CME Requirements

The NCCPA, or National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, currently creates the regulations to maintain active Physician Assistant certification. See details on CME Requirements Below. Some states do not require you to maintain active certification (i.e. recertify via PANRE testing) but often JOBS still require this, even in those states.

Your license is maintained within your state, and is often contingent on maintenance of CME requirements.

 

For PA’s on the NEW 10 year cycle
2014 marked the beginning of the PA profession’s transition to a 10-year certification maintenance process. PAs who passed PANCE, regained certification, or wrap up a six-year certification maintenance cycle in 2014 were the first to begin the new 10-year process. Any new graduates from 2014 on are automatically on the 10 year cycle.

With a 10 year process, it’s now composed of FIVE 2-year maintenance cycles:

– During each cycle, one must 100 CME credits including 50 Category 1 credits with 20 earned through Self-Assessment (SA) and/or Performance Improvement (PI) CME activities.
– PREVIOUSLY, PA’s were required to complete specific Performance Improvement (PI) and Self Assessment (SA) CME credits. These types of CME are NO LONGER required (as of 2017) as part of the 50 credits.

The NCCPA states that they “recognize the value of these very interactive types of CME, and will weight these types of CME more heavily. We will award 50% additional credit for all activities designated for self-assessment Category 1 CME credit (i.e., a self-assessment activity worth 10 credits will be converted to 15 credits by NCCPA). Also, the first 20 PI-CME credits logged during every two-year cycle will be doubled when logged with NCCPA.”

 

You can find full information on NCCPA CME Requirements here.

 

 

For PA’s still on the 6 year cycle
Every 2 years, (years 2, 4, and 6 of the certification maintenance cycle), all certified PAs must log their 100 CME credits online and submit the *$130 certification maintenance fee by 11:59 p.m. PT, December 31 of their certification expiration year.

Of the 100 CME credits you must earn and log, at least 50 must be Category 1 CME. The remaining 50 credits can be Category 1, Category 2 or a combination of both. CME can be classified as a Certification Program, Category 1 or Category 2.

 

 

For All PA’s
Your CME earning and logging window is May 1 of the year your current certification was issued through December 31 of the certification expiration year. (For example, PA-C designees whose certifications expire in 2015 must have earned their CME between May 1, 2013 and December 31, 2015.)

You should keep your Category 1 CME documentation for your current CME cycle and your last CME cycle. For example, if you are currently on a 2013-2015 CME cycle you would need to keep that documentation and the 2011-2013 CME cycle documentation. The NCCPA does not audit Category 2 CME, but your state may for licensure assessments.