PAEA Holds 2024 Business Meeting

On Tuesday, October 22, PAEA held its annual Business Meeting in a virtual event attended by PA educators across the country. The meeting was convened by President Nicole B. Burwell, PhD, MSHS,
PA-C, who thanked the Board for its guidance and expressed appreciation for CEO Sara Fletcher, PhD, and the PAEA staff. The main new business of the Business Meeting was to review and approve a slate of changes to the organization’s bylaws recommended by the Board and legal experts with non-profit governance expertise. The changes were made for several reasons:

• To comply with District of Columbia law
• To embrace best practices in governance
• To modernize language and improve the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness in the fast-paced, technology-enabled environment of today
• To organize the bylaws by categories related to Membership, Board, and Officers and make the bylaws easier to follow

Although the majority of the bylaw adjustments were reviewed without discussion, members discussed and revised the proposed changes to language for Articles 2.02, 3.03, and 3.04.

Article 2.02 is being revised to clarify that accredited entry-level PA programs are identified as PAEA members.

• The revised language for Article 2.02 reads: The Corporation has a single category of voting members, referred to as “Members” and “Member Programs.” To be eligible to be a Member Program, a program must be an entry-level PA program that is accredited. 

Articles 3.03 and 3.04 deal with the composition of the Board. In each case, members changed “Directors” to “Elected Members of the Board” for the purpose of clarifying the language.

• The revised language for Article 3.03 reads: Board candidates and Elected Members of the Board must meet eligibility criteria published by the Association…
• The revised language for Article 3.04.1 reads: Board candidates and Elected Members of the Board must be Program Representatives at a Member Program. 

In other business, members approved the minutes of the 2023 Business Meeting, accepted the Annual Report from President Burwell and CEO Sara Fletcher, and heard from Jacqueline S. Barnett, DHSc, MSHS, PA-C Treasurer, PA Education Association. Barnett’s report recapped the healthy financial status of PAEA, which included a fiscal-year-end gain of $400,377 and a 14% increase in net assets compared with fiscal year 2023.

The chairs of the AAPA, ARC-PA, NCCPA, the nccPA Health Foundation, the PA History Society, and the PA Foundation provided reports to the assembly, as did Trenton Honda, PhD, MMS, PA-C, editor in chief of the Journal of PA Education (JPAE). 

Consent Agenda

In new business, the membership approved 10 position policies for PAEA as part of its consent agenda.

• Certification to Practice: PAEA supports the entry-level certification examination administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants as the only examination requirement for PAs to obtain state licensure and to qualify for employment as a PA.
• Clinical Training: PAEA supports policy, federal financing, and regulatory actions that ensure an adequate supply of high-quality clinical training sites for all PA students and encourages the development of sites committed to educating interprofessional teams of health care providers.
• Expansion of Stafford Loan Program: PAEA supports reform of the Federal Direct Stafford Loan Program to ensure that borrowing limits for PA students are sufficient to assist in the financing of their education and commensurate with other health care professions.
• Generalist Education: PAEA supports a generalist framework and comprehensive approach to entry-level PA education. PA education prepares graduates to meet the primary care workforce needs of the nation and provides the PA graduate with flexibility in career choices.
• Loan Repayment for Faculty: PAEA supports an expansion of loan repayment programs for PA faculty, especially those designed to improve the recruitment and retention of a diverse PA education workforce.
• Loan Repayment for Students: PAEA supports an expansion of student loan repayment programs for PA graduates linked to service in medically underserved populations and rural communities.
• Pathway to Practice: PAEA supports graduation from ARC-PA accredited programs and certification by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants as the sole pathway to practice as a PA in the nation.
• Technology: PAEA supports the increased utilization of technology within PA programs, to include electronic health records, patient simulators, and other innovations, that prepares graduates for entry into the health care system and supports patient safety.
• Title VII Reauthorization and Updating Expansion: PAEA supports the reauthorization and expansion of Title VII as a vital source of federal funding for PA programs.
• Diverse Workforce: PAEA supports policies that ensure a diverse PA health care workforce sufficient to meet the current and projected healthcare needs of the nation and reflect the population it serves.

Also in the consent agenda, the members approved allowing PAEA Position Policy #5, Graduate Medical Education, to sunset; and revised Position Policy #16, Optimal Team Practice, by replacing the prior statement with the following: Optimal Team Practice: Acknowledging the evolving landscape of rules and regulations, PAEA continues to support the goal of optimal team practice (OTP) and encourages all PA programs to align their curricula to prepare graduates to succeed in “contemporary team-based healthcare.”

Board Elections

This year’s election for members of the Board of Directors took place on October 21 and 22. There was a runoff election on October 28 and 29 to determine the Treasurer.

The new members of the Board are: