AAFP Offers Input as PAs Consider Specialty Certification

Physician assistants, who already obtain certification as PAs, are considering creating specialty recognition or certification programs. In response, the Academy has advised PAs to beware of creating "specialty silos."

AAFP Board Chair Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., conveyed the Academy's misgivings about specialty certification for PAs in a July 7 letter to Janet Lathrop, M.B.A., president and executive director of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, or NCCPA.

The AAFP "notes that many PAs do not support the creation of specialty-specific certification exams as a condition of practicing in a specialty setting," said Frank. "This is congruent with AAFP policy that credentialing should be based upon training, experience and demonstrated competence, and not based on a single certification."

According to a document from a forum the NCCPA held in June that included 31 PA and physician specialty and PA professional organizations, the NCCPA identified several themes from the meeting. According to the document, for many PAs, "specialty recognition is acceptable, while specialty certification is not." In addition, the forum document noted that "PAs do not want any new program to become a requirement."

Frank made three key points in her letter:

An NCCPA task force will consider the forum's work and input submitted by groups such as the Academy. The task force is expected to report in August to the NCCPA Board of Directors concerning specialty certification.