Why You Should Be an AAPA member

I often struggle with whether AAPA membership is worth it or not. I know a lot of PAs who don’t keep up with their membership as it is not a requirement to be a PA. This past week I was in Las Vegas for the AAPA 2017 conference. This was the second AAPA conference that I’ve been able to attend since becoming a PA and after a week in Las Vegas it has reaffirmed in my mind that it is worth both attending the annual conference as well as maintaining my membership.

Every two years we have to pay the NCCPA to re-certify, we also have to pay for licensing by the state. Fortunately my employer pays both of these as they are required to practice. They do not pay for my AAPA dues as they do not consider AAPA membership a requirement. The cost of membership is around $295 for fellow members and people often wonder what this pays for. On top of that if you want to attend the annual AAPA conference you have to drop another $555 just for the registration fee plus additional fees for other workshops you might be interested in attending, then you have to pay for the travel (I paid just over $300 for flight and taxi to get to hotel) to the conference as well as hotel ($1200 for my stay at Mandalay Bay) while you’re there. Luckily, for me all of these are covered by the CME allowance from my employer (I get $2000/year for cme but paid for the conference in 2016 so $555 was reimbursed last year).

It might feel like $295 is a lot to spend to get a JAAPA once a month but the AAPA does a lot more than just send out a journal once a month including advocating for you, the PA. When you’re in practice it often seems like you’re the only one going through certain issues, whether it be a billing issues, full practice authority, certification, etc. This past week was a reminder to me that there are over 100,000 other people who have to deal with the same issues in being a PA and the AAPA is out there advocating for all of us; and if you do have a question about a certain issue you can contact the AAPA and there is most likely someone who can help you.

Besides advocacy for the Physician Assistant profession the AAPA also provides a lot of continuing education opportunities. If you attend the AAPA annual conference you can obtain almost half of your required cme for a two year cycle. Also available to members is learning central on the AAPA website where you have access to other cme opportunities. Of course you also get a monthly JAAPA where you can get category 1 cme for reading the cme articles and doing the post test and category 2 cme for reading the rest of the journal.

Going to the annual conference is a great opportunity for networking. I did not go to the conference as a student because it was not a requirement for my PA program and the thought of dropping a couple grand to go to a conference did not seem like it would be worth it. It still seems like a lot to spend for a student, however there are a lot of opportunities to talk to potential employers and network with other PAs who might be able to give you advice about being a PA or interviewing for your first job.

As a practicing PA I do like being able to talk to other PAs who can commiserate with the issues I am going through. There are interest groups for many specialties so if you are in a specialty you can attend these meeting and meet others who might be in the same situation as you. More than anything it is an opportunity to not feel alone and see that their are other people who have to deal with the same things you do.

Of course there are plenty of lectures that you can attend for cme at the annual conference as well. This years conference was Monday – Friday and you could earn six to eight hours of cme every day if you chose to attend all the cme sessions. A lot of the cme sessions focus on diagnosis and treatment of certain conditions but there are also plenty about other topics that they don’t teach you in PA school, such as billing, calculating PA value, specialty training and other issues affecting PAs. Also there are certain tracks you can attend like emergency medicine, obesity, pain, etc., so it is not just geared towards primary care.

As mentioned above  there are plenty of opportunities to speak with potential employers. If you’re are a recent graduate or interested in changing jobs there is a career fair that you can attend. There is also is an open exhibit hall where there are over 250 exhibitors all trying to push their products, some of these products include recruiting PAs or PA placement. You can talk to a lot of people who want to get you into a new position.

If you’re happy with your current job, you can still attend the exhibit hall and see the latest and greatest things in the world of PAs. A lot of the the major pharmaceutical companies are there presenting their newest medications. There are also a lot of companies offering different PANCE and PANRE review courses, including live sessions, online sessions and question banks.

If you’re not an AAPA member there is a lot that membership can give you. I understand if you don’t want to spend the money on something that only gives you a monthly magazine, but AAPA membership gives you so much than just that. I would encourage any one interested in becoming a PA or is a current PA to invest in a membership with AAPA, it is up to you to use all the resources that the membership provides.

Disclaimer – I am not paid by the AAPA (although after this glowing review, I probably should be). All views are my own.