Today is June 30. For many physician assistants, this date marks the final day of the fiscal year and the absolute deadline to utilize your annual Continuing Medical Education (CME) stipend. If you do not spend these funds by the end of today, the money often returns to your employer’s general budget. Leaving these professional development funds on the table is an inefficient use of your compensation package.
Maximizing your CME budget requires more than just picking a random course to meet a credit quota. To get the most value, you must prioritize AAPA Category 1 Credit that serves dual purposes: fulfilling NCCPA certification requirements and providing tangible educational tools. At CME Review Courses, we provide an efficient mechanism to stretch your stipend through high-yield content and significant gift card add-ons.
The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) requires PAs to earn 100 CME credits every two years. At least 50 of those must be Category 1. Our premier offering is designed to solve this requirement in a single purchase.
The PANRE Review Course is structured to be the most comprehensive and efficient way to prepare for your recertification while satisfying your CME needs.
By choosing this course, you are not just checking a box. You are gaining access to a 30-month resource that covers the entire NCCPA Blueprint, including Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Orthopedics, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Neurology, Cardiology, and OB/GYN. This content is written by physician assistants for physician assistants, ensuring the clinical vignettes are practical and relevant to your daily practice.
While the 100-hour PANRE course is the gold standard for recertification, many PAs and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have specific needs for pharmacology-focused credits. Many state licensing boards and hospital credentialing committees require a specific number of pharmacology hours to maintain prescribing privileges.
Our Pharmacology Review Course meets this specific need with high-yield clinical content.
While this course is optimized for PAs, NPs can often claim AAPA Category 1 credit for their own state requirements, though you should verify your specific state board's rules. Physicians can also find value in this content, though it counts as Category 2 CME for them.
The most effective way to maximize a $1,000, $1,500, or $2,000 CME stipend is to bundle your educational materials with a gift card add-on. We offer Amazon and Apple Gift Card add-ons ranging from $100 to $1,500.
When you select a CME package with a gift card, the cost of the gift card is added to the course price. This allows you to utilize your entire stipend on a single transaction. You receive the high-quality Category 1 AAPA credit required for your license, and you receive a gift card that can be used to further enrich your education: whether that means purchasing medical equipment, a new tablet for the clinic, or clinical reference books.
Our content is tailored for the reality of clinical practice. We understand that your time is limited. That is why our materials focus on the high-yield topics found on the NCCPA Blueprint. We don't just provide a list of facts; we provide the clinical reasoning necessary to differentiate between similar diagnoses.
The PANRE Review course is comprehensive, but the individual modules allow you to target your weaknesses. If you work in Orthopedics but feel rusty on Cardiology for your PANRE, you can dive deep into our Cardiology modules and practice questions until you are confident.
Your patient is a 62-year-old male presenting with progressive dyspnea on exertion over the past three months. He reports sleeping on three pillows to avoid gasping for air at night. His medical history is significant for a major anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) six months ago and long-standing hypertension. He admits to being "hit or miss" with his medications.
Physical Exam Findings:
A transthoracic echocardiogram confirms a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 30%.
Which of the following medications should be initiated to most effectively improve this patient’s long-term survival?
A. Furosemide
B. Digoxin
C. Lisinopril
D. Nitroglycerin transdermal patch
E. Verapamil
The correct answer is C. Lisinopril.
Lisinopril is an ACE inhibitor, which is a first-line therapy for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), particularly following a myocardial infarction. ACE inhibitors provide a clear mortality benefit by reducing afterload, inhibiting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), and preventing the pathologic ventricular remodeling that occurs post-MI. In a patient with an EF of 30% and symptoms of heart failure (orthopnea, PND, S3 gallop), initiating an ACE inhibitor (or an ARB/ARNI) is the standard of care to improve long-term survival.
A. Furosemide is a loop diuretic used primarily for symptomatic relief of fluid overload. While it will improve the patient's crackles and peripheral edema, it has not been shown to provide the same mortality benefit as ACE inhibitors in HFrEF.
B. Digoxin can be used to reduce hospitalizations and manage symptoms in heart failure, but it does not significantly improve long-term survival. It is generally reserved for patients who remain symptomatic despite optimal medical therapy.
D. Nitroglycerin transdermal patch provides vasodilation and can help with angina, but it does not address the neurohormonal changes or remodeling necessary to improve mortality in systolic heart failure.
E. Verapamil is a non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker. Due to its negative inotropic effects, it can actually worsen systolic heart failure and is generally contraindicated in patients with a reduced ejection fraction.
Maximizing your CME budget is about making strategic choices. By selecting a course that offers 100 hours of AAPA Category 1 credit, you fulfill your biennial NCCPA requirement in one step. By utilizing the Amazon or Apple Gift Card add-on, you ensure that every dollar of your employer-provided stipend is used to benefit your professional life.
As the June 30 deadline approaches, don't let your stipend expire. Invest in your clinical knowledge and your career with a package that delivers real, quantifiable value.
Visit CME Review Courses today to select your package and claim your Category 1 credits.
Price: $800 - $3,000 (depending on gift card add-on)Access: Lifetime access to course materialsDeliverables: 100…
Course: PANRE Review Course Price: Starting at $399.99 Access: 30 Months of Full Access Deliverables:…
For many Physician Assistants, the end of the fiscal year or the approach of a…
Preparing for the Physician Assistant National Recertification Exam (PANRE) is a significant undertaking that requires…
Maintaining certification requires a strategic approach to Continuing Medical Education (CME). For Physician Assistants, the…
Price: $599 - $2,500 (depending on gift card add-on selection)Access: LifetimeCredits: 100 Hours of AAPA…