The Joint Commission Recognizes National Board of Physicians and Surgeons as Credentialing Authority

The Joint Commission has added the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS) as a Designated Equivalent Source Agency, effective July 1, 2022. The NBPAS now meets all major national accreditation standards for hospitals and health plans including the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC), and Det Norske Veritas (DNV). In light of these recognitions, and in response to physician demand, a growing number of hospitals and health systems recognize NBPAS recertification for physician credentialing and privileging. 

The NBPAS also provides neurologists with recertification opportunities in brain injury medicine, clinical neurophysiology, epilepsy, hospice and palliative medicine, neurocritical care, neuromuscular medicine, pain medicine, sleep medicine, and vascular neurology.

Paul G. Mathew, MD, DNBPAS, FAAN, FAHS, member of the NBPAS Board of Directors and co-chief medical editor of Practical Neurology stated, “NBPAS recertification reduces health care costs, improves patient access to physicians, and reduces physician burnout. The NBPAS also prohibits the discriminatory practice of "grandfathering," which gives lifetime, elite status without recertification requirements to a significant portion of US physicians who are 80% white and 70% men. The NBPAS requirements are the same for all physicians regardless of age or length of practice.”

Recertification by the NBPAS requires that a physician completed an American Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited residency or fellowship and passed an initial board certification examination. Physicians must also have an unrestricted medical license with hospital privileges for certain surgical/procedural specialties, hold an active medical staff appointment or membership for at least the last 24 months, and complete a minimum 50 hours every 2 years of Category 1 continuing medical education (CME) related to their specialty and recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA).
     
The NBPAS was created in 2015 as a more cost effective, specialty-specific, and less burdensome means of maintaining certification. On average, NBPAS certification and recertification is 72% less costly than other maintenance of certification pathways. 

Karen Schatten, associate director at NBPAS, stated " Physicians are drowning in a sea of administrative tasks that prevent them from doing what we need them to do: provide outstanding patient care. NBPAS is proud to support physicians and reduce burden through its recognized and physician-led board recertification pathway."