PAEA Board Holds First Meeting of 2025: Advancing Member Interests in a Changing Landscape
On behalf of the PAEA Board of Directors, I would like to share a brief update on our first Board Meeting of 2025. We recognize that our members face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, and we remain committed to providing the community, resources, and advocacy that helps every program and educator thrive.
As your trusted source for all things PA education, we’re working to anticipate and address our members’ evolving needs, deliver innovative solutions that strengthen our field, and ensure your collective voice shapes the future of PA education.
Here’s a quick summary of the key priorities we discussed during the meeting:
Strategic Advocacy: The board took a deep dive into the rapidly changing national policy landscape to identify ways the association can effectively advocate for PA programs’ interests in the years ahead. This includes developing proactive strategies to address workforce challenges, educational funding, and regulatory issues affecting PA education.
Supporting Members’ Emerging Needs: We have all heard the adage: “If you’ve seen one PA program, you’ve seen one PA program.” As surging demand for well-trained PAs drives program growth nationwide, the board is working thoughtfully to plan ahead and ensure the Association has the flexibility it needs to support and advocate for every program involved in PA education.
Strengthening Accreditation Support: The board will continue the association’s vital work to empower members to voice their accreditation needs.
Last year, PAEA organized an initiative to enable programs to share anonymous feedback regarding accreditation as a part of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)’s review of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). Roughly one-third of PAEA member programs took part, providing a comprehensive view of members’ experiences.
In response to member feedback requesting increased resources and support for programs, ARC-PA has introduced new resources, including:
- New entry-level manuals and guides that explain the expectations outlined in the standards and offer guidance on different methods of demonstrating compliance
- Entry level tutorials, including compliance manual tutorials mapped to the A, B, and C standards
- An anonymous question and answer board where programs can seek guidance
We congratulate ARC-PA on achieving CHEA recognition.
On a related note, we want members to be aware that the Commission has declined PAEA’s invitation to participate in our upcoming spring Workshops and will instead provide instruction and resources through their own channels. PAEA will remain steadfast in our commitment to creating valuable educational experiences for PA programs and will continue to seek opportunities for collaboration with ARC-PA that bring accreditors and educators together, as we believe this partnership is vital to serving our members’ needs.
As your elected leadership, the board is committed to transparency and regular communication with you as we engage in the critical work of strengthening PAEA as your professional home, trusted resource, and powerful advocate. If you have questions or comments for the board, please feel free to contact president@PAEAonline.org.
