NHA News Center

June was a busy month for the healthcare education industry. Many key themes focused on challenging educational institutions and businesses to think more creatively about experientallearning and the concept of apprenticeships. It’s challenging to keep up with regulatory updates, announcements, mergers, best practices, so we’ve made it more simple for you.  

Here is a collection of the top stories in allied health for the past month. Providing fast access to key industry updates and empowering individuals with this information is meaningful to the work we do here at NHA.

Today National Healthcareer Association (NHA) will be represented at the Military to Healthcare Credentialing Roundtable convened by The American Legion to address the employment challenges currently facing America’s service members and veterans in healthcare. This selective group will collaborate with other key stakeholders, such as representatives from each military branch and the Credential Engine, a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve transparency in the credentialing marketplace, to discuss the unique challenges veterans face when it comes to credential attainment.

Certified Pharmacy Technicians (CPhTs) now have the opportunity to be recognized for their professional role and as a valued member of the pharmacy team. Prior to 2016, pharmacy technician’s duties and responsibilities were lumped into one category, which stated that an individual performing those duties did not have to document formal education, training or
certification.

The Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners is considering a proposed amendment to its medical assistant regulations. The proposed changes include the following:

Confusion Around “Meaningful Use” Lifecycle and MACRA – Will it Affect Medical Assistants?

A recent statement by a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) representative that “Meaningful Use” was going to end in 2016 has been widely published and often misconstrued, particularly with respect to its impact on credentialed medical assistants.

While it is true that the CMS will be switching incentive programs for practice-based healthcare providers, the new incentive programs will continue to measure EHR meaningful use. Moreover, there has been no indication from the CMS that it intends to change its rule allowing EHR orders entered by credentialed medical assistants to count towards incentive calculations.

New Mexico Pharmacy Technician Regulatory Update

The New Mexico Board of Pharmacy has adopted rules that allow certified pharmacy technicians to perform data input at remote practice sites. They must be registered with the Board as certified pharmacy technicians and have at least 2 years of experience performing data entry functions as certified pharmacy technicians. For additional details, click here.