Physician Assistant practice involves more than meeting the essential education requirements; graduates cannot be licensed as registered physician assistants until national examination and certifications are completed. Of course, NYS fees for licensure are another expense and run about $115 ($70 application fee & $45 first three-year registration fee).

NCCPA

       Examination requirements in New York require passing the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) that is administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).
       Hospitals typically request proof of certification, typically generated from the NCCPA website. Once you sign-in, and have your personal data, then choose "Credentialing Info Release" from the left-hand menu bar. This will generate a letter sent on your behalf verifying proof of certification. Surprisingly, even though the NCCPA wallet card should not be submitted to any third party as proof of certification, some regional hospitals still wanted the card, and not a letter nor a certificate.

Personal Identification

       State driver's license, social security card, passport; some hospitals require wallet-sized head-shot photos with name and contact info on the back.

Infection Control

       Mandated training, related to infection control and barrier precaution coursework, is required every four years in NY.


Copy of Most Recent CV

       That's on you.


DEA

       You do NOT need to be licensed to start the registration process with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Registration specialist in telephone discussion stated that the process could be expedited by filing the application incomplete, to permit filing prior to graduating. It takes 4-6 weeks to process once all the requirements (i.e. licensing) are met. You need a separate registration for each state you will be practicing in. Each registration costs $551. The standard period of registration is 3 years; however, the website states that the initial registration period can range from 28 to 39 months.

       Prescriptive authority relating to controlled substances is highly regulated. Review the prescribing policies for NY, specifically relating to opioids.

Prescription Forms

       All practitioners since 2006 have to use New York State Official Prescription Pads to write any prescription. The process of obtaining official scripts is lengthy. You will have to send forms by mail twice, one of them notarized. Prescriptions are shipped to your business DEA address. You will likely send and receive email more than once to complete the process. The final ordering of the scripts can be done online once you and your physician are registered for scripts AND have a Health Provider Network (HPN) number competed.

       At a minimum, have an imprint stamp made with your name, degree, and include license number. This is a temporary "piggy-back" approach using your supervisor's prescriptions, but allows you the ability to prescribe functionally. Having this legible identification is also helpful for other uses (ambulance transfers, work excuses, etc.).

       Begin the process with application to the Health Commerce System (HCS), or call 866-811-7957 (Option 1).
       Include the essential step of filling out their attached form entitled "Official New York State Prescription Registration Form." This form must be mailed to the DOH, as they require an original signature.
       DEA number is required. (If you do not have a DEA number, check the url above or call 1-866-772-4683 to register.) TIP: The address on your DEA will appear on your scripts unless you order the scripts through another practitioner and add your name to the script. Then both names and one address appear on the scripts.

       Secondly, with your supervising physician, you will need to request an HPN Medical Professions account application. You obtain the HPN number in order to get the PA prescription pads with the supervising physician(s) name(s), DEA numbers and office address on them. TIP: Only one person in a group needs the HPN to get scripts with multiple practitioners on them.

       Third step is to order the scripts on the secure website using either your own or your supervising physician's HPN account and follow the directions. You can preview your scripts before entering the order to be sure they have on them the necessary information. TIP: If you want your DEA# printed on the scripts, there is a box to check off - that is an easily missed concern. Otherwise you will need to hand-print your number on each script that requires one! Once everyone in a group is registered, multiple MD, PA, NP numbers plus addresses on the script is common.


National Provider Identifier

       All health care providers who are HIPAA-covered entities must obtain an NPI (National Provider Identifier). According to the Center for Medicare Services (CMS), if you provide services that are billable to Medicare (and who doesn't?), you need an NPI. This standard unique health identifier now supersedes all prior identifiers, like UPIN, MPN, API, TIN or other identifiers. (If you graduated after June 29, 2007 you should be updated to NPI.)
       CMS Forms can help complete the essential information with a link to apply. This is free. When approved, you will get a letter by snail mail, email, or both. Copy this letter; it is your proof of NPI.

All Certifications

       Graduation from a Physician Assistant fellowship program or residency can provide an excellent foundation for specialty practice. Consider the certification from a postgraduate residency program from the many listed by APPAP as a resource for excellent post-grad education.

       Provide copies of your certificates for hospital credentialing. Copy front and back of cards; front only of certificates. Having digitally scanned documents is helpful these days:

       - BLS
       - ACLS
Advanced Cardiac Life Support is a very helpful adjunct for your first job.
       - ATLS
As of October 2008, the American College of Surgeons will certify PAs for Advanced Trauma Life Support, like they do for physicians.
       - PALS Pediatric Advanced Life Support Course, or
       - APLS Advanced Pediatric Life Support Course,
with either considered accepted alternatives: PALS = APLS.
       - NRP, the Neonatal Resuscitation Program is important depending on your area of discipline; however it is sometimes difficult to locate a program.
       - ALSO, the Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics coursework.
       - FCCS, the Fundamental Critical Care Support course is a two-day comprehensive program addressing essential management principles for the first 24 hours of ICU and critical care.
       - ABLS, the Advanced Burn Life Support coursework.
       - Difficult Airway Course is an excellent certification for solo practitioners in emergent environments.
       - Emergency Ultrasound Course also includes vascular access coursework to facilitate intravascular placement of catheters.


Diplomas

       Copy of undergraduate diploma and PA diploma (or others). For each school, have a mailing address, department phone number and fax number, plus a department contact person, with title and email.


NY State Photo ID Card

       Although hospitals don't really care, this kind of photo ID, with a cost of $30, may be useful in non-hospital and emergency situations, especially when a licensed professional needs to work in a setting other than an office (like commercial air flight incidents, "Good Samaritan" events, roadside accident, etc.)

CME

       Of the 100 CME hours you must earn and log every two years, at least 50 must be Category I CME. The remaining 50 hours can be Category I, Category II or a combination of both.

        Hospitals like to see your CME. Generally, it is easiest to use the NCCPA CME log printout, with copies of CME documentation. You can start logging your CME after earning your NCCPA certificate. Like all paperwork, it is best to log this as it occurs, rather than in crisis.


References

       Four seems like the magical number. As a new grad, consider listing your dean/director, instructors and preceptors. After a few months of work, ask co-workers and attendings if they would be references. Having a mix seems to be a good thing; all hospitals request people who have worked with you in the last 6 months to 2 years, but some want colleagues and some want physicians. All hospitals want mailing address, phone, fax and email.


Previous work history

       Every contact person and their title, address, phone number, fax number for all the decades of PA employment, or 15 years, whichever is more. Some wanted all work history, some only relevant to the current position. The typical number of years requested was 7, 10 or 15.


Hospital affiliations

       List all previous hospital affiliations with addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, dates. This is everywhere you have previously applied for credentials. They may want a personal hospital contact. Consider "Medical Staff Services" and "Credentials Verification Office" as the common office names for the people in charge of your hospital privileges.


Proof of insurance

       Copy of all liability insurance policies, including during PA school. Your program should have given you a copy prior to clinical rotations. And unless you buy your own policy, each employer generally gives you a copy of this data too (though you may have to request the information).


NPDB

       Malpractice actions are tied to hospital credentialing, and the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) is the repository for such actions. Have you been involved, either indirectly or directly, in malpractice events? For good or bad, such events must be disclosed in the credentialing process. As a practitioner, there are typical scenarios describing the reasons why you will want to go to the Data Bank Web site and search for reports on you. An $8.00 fee per self-query is assessed by the NPDB.

Ethics