Certificates of Added Qualification (CAQ) Exams for Physician Assistants

Specialty Certificates of Added Qualifications (CAQ) Exams

CAQ exams for physician assistants are utilized for one purpose: to receive recognition for having obtained advanced clinical training and skills in your specialty. Since September of 2011, these exams have been given by the NCCPA just like the PANCE, and awarded to those who perform exceptionally. The CAQ emphasizes that PAs are grounded first in generalist medicine and then pursue additional qualifications in specialites. It serves as excellent documentation of knowledge, training, and experience in specialty practice. It also helps to avoid the confusion of any new PA “certification” program or any new specialty certification designation, as this credential is achieved in addition to the PA-C. According to Janet Lanthrop, old CEO of NCCPA, there were two desires in producing this exam: to have documentation to show hiring physicians that PAs were knowledgeable in specialty areas and to give hiring physicians assurance that the PA had experience in the specialty to come in at a certain level of acuity than your typical newly hired PA.

Physician Assistants, Doctors, and Nurse Practitioners

Physician Assistants, Doctors, and Nurse Practitioners

Updated: 03/15/2016

Over the last 200 years, several million public books and publications were archived into a database where a word search counted the number of times “physician assistant” or “nurse practitioner” was used. You can see the preliminary results here. Not so surprisingly, "physician assistant" began to pop up around the same time as "nurse practitioner," however, more folks seem to quote nurse practitioners in their novels than physician assistants. Could it be because your average American is less educated about all mid-level providers? Is AAPA doing a poor job of promoting physician assistants in the United States? Are nurse practitioner lobbyist groups stronger than we anticipated? Or is it because there are simply less well-known physician assistants in the scientific community? These are questions I do not have answers for, but if you're curious about the difference between the three different types of advanced providers, please keep reading and enjoy!