Two new Certificates of Added Qualifications (CAQs) will soon be available for Certified PAs. Earlier this year, the NCCPA Board of Directors recently approved the development of CAQs for dermatology and palliative medicine/hospice care (PM/HC) based on requests received from PAs working in these specialty areas and in collaboration with PA specialty membership organizations: PAs in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (PAHPM) and the Society of Dermatology PAs (SDPA).

Panels of PAs practicing in the specialty, including leaders of the PA society organizations, worked with NCCPA to develop the requirements for specific CME topics, length of experience, and patient management/skills attestations for each of the new CAQs. PAs interested in earning a CAQ in dermatology or PM/HC will be able to begin the process of completing their non-exam requirements in mid-year 2022, and additional information on these new CAQs is available on NCCPA’s website.

The CAQ exam is an important step in the process of earning a CAQ. PAs working in the specialty areas are the subject matter experts, and their input is critically important in developing the CAQ exam. Panels of PAs practicing in the specialties work with NCCPA through a series of meetings to collaborate on developing the content outline for the CAQ exams. The draft content outline for the PM/HC CAQ exam has been developed and is available for review.

NCCPA is seeking feedback from subject matter experts who provide palliative medicine and hospice care to patients. This could include PAs working in diverse specialties such as palliative medicine and hospice care, critical care, emergency medicine, family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, geriatrics, hospital medicine, nephrology, neurology, oncology, etc.

You may view the blueprint and provide your feedback here. PAs working in these areas are encouraged to provide their feedback prior to the end of the comment period on December 10.

Another panel of PAs will convene to review the feedback received during the comment period and develop recommendations needed to finalize the PM/HC CAQ exam content blueprint.

A similar process will soon take place for the dermatology CAQ exam.

The new CAQ exams are scheduled to launch in 2023, and PAs who complete the process will be part of the inaugural group to earn these new credentials.

“When adding a new CAQ, two key factors considered are the needs of PAs working in the specialty and the support from the PA specialty organization. PAs working in PM/HC experience credentialing challenges that limits their scope of practice, and we hope the CAQ will help with those challenges. PAs working in dermatology have also contacted NCCPA inquiring about a CAQ. NCCPA appreciates the collaboration of the PAHPM and the SDPA, as well as the contributions of the many PAs working in these specialties to develop these two new CAQs,” said NCCPA President and CEO Dawn Morton-Rias, Ed.D., PA-C.