NHA News Center

At NHA, we constantly listen to our stakeholders and clients to ensure that our certification exams and learning resources meet the industry's needs. Recently, NHA has received several comments from institutions that their students were having difficulty meeting the Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT) exam eligibility requirement that states that ten capillary sticks must be completed on live individuals. It has been noted and shared that fewer patient care sites are doing capillary sticks, creating a barrier for individual learners to achieve certification.

This topic was recently discussed at an NHA Certification Board meeting, and it was confirmed that while schools should continue teaching capillary sticks, finger sticks are more prevalent. NHA recognizes that many patient care sites still perform capillary sticks; however, the board has modified the CPT eligibility requirement to state the following:

"For the CPT certification, you must be able to provide evidence that you have successfully performed a minimum of thirty (30) venipunctures and ten (10) capillary or finger sticks on live individuals."

For more information about certification exam eligibility requirements or to review the updated language, click here to access NHA's Candidate Handbook.

CCMA, CPT, CET, and CPCT exams now qualify for college credit hours

The American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE) has evaluated and recommended college credit for two additional National Healthcareer Association (NHA) certification exams. The two new nationally accredited certification exams are for becoming a Certified EKG Technician (CET) and a Certified Patient Care Technician (CPCT/A). Those exams, along with NHA’s Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) and Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT) exams, are now approved for college credit for those pursuing higher education after certification.

National Healthcareer Association (NHA), the largest allied health certification agency in the nation, announces a new training eligibility pathway to certification for their employer partners as a way to address critical healthcare recruitment and retention challenges.

The National Healthcareer Association (NHA) has advocated getting medical assisting certification language changed in California to provide more access to employment in California.  

The National Healthcareer Association is proud to support Pharmacy Times and Parata Systems in the Next-Generation Pharmacist® awards by sponsoring the Pharmacy Technician category.

CPhT Students and Current Pharm Techs Benefit

LEAWOOD, Kan. – For years, the National Healthcareer Association has advocated on behalf of all pharmacy technicians. Our mission to empower people to access a better future drives us to connect with community pharmacies and other pharmacy technician employers to ensure all techs are granted equal employment opportunities, regardless of their certification.

On August 4, 2021, the Biden administration expanded the authority of pharmacy technicians under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) to allow pharmacy technicians to administer adult flu vaccines during the 2021-2022 flu season.  

CCMA, CPT and ExCPT exams now qualify for college credit hours

On June 16th, NHA had the honor of hosting a Congressional Career and Technician Education Caucus briefing in Washington D.C. with key representatives across the country. It was exciting to share information about how health science pathways make up the largest career cluster in Career Technical Education, having served over 1 million concentrators in the 2019/20 school year, and how the healthcare industry remains at the core of our nation’s economic success, even post-pandemic.  

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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law House Bill 6 sponsored by State Rep. Bill Roemer which provides patients with continued access to COVID-19 vaccinations, COVID-19 testing and other immunizations and expands employment options for pharmacy technician trainees.

The legislation expands pharmacists’ and pharmacy interns’ authority to provide COVID-19 vaccines to patients seven years of age and older, also allowing pharmacists to order and administer diagnostic and antibody tests for COVID-19. Under the direct supervision of a pharmacist, pharmacy interns and certified pharmacy technicians may also administer the tests. Additionally, the legislation authorizes pharmacists and pharmacy interns to administer to an individual 13 years of age or older an immunization for any disease without a prescription.

The bill also made revisions to the law that remove barriers for individuals to train as pharmacy technicians. The law allows a 17-year-old enrolled in a Board-approved career-technical education program to register with the Board of Pharmacy and extends the time frame for technicians to complete training.

In addition, it requires the State Board of Pharmacy to comply with the law known as the “Fresh Start Act” — enacted by H.B. 263 of the 133rd General Assembly — when registering a pharmacy technician trainee who (1) holds a license or is registered in another state or (2) has satisfactory work experience, government certification or private certification as a pharmacy technician trainee in another state.

Indiana Makes Changes

The state of Indiana recently enacted House Bill 1468. The legislation increases the pharmacy technician-to-pharmacist ratio from 6:1 to up to 8:1 – a move which empowers pharmacists to deploy more optimized care models that consider the specific needs of the patient population served. It also allows pharmacy technicians to work remotely for certain non-dispensing duties, including data entry and insurance processing and expands patients’ access to critical immunizations by permitting pharmacists, pharmacy students and pharmacy technicians to administer an influenza or COVID-19 vaccine pursuant to a prescription, protocol or standing order (in addition to the 11 other vaccination categories listed in the statute).

Sources:

https://drugstorenews.com/ohio-law-earns-nacds-praise-expanding-pharmacist-immunization-authority?oly_enc_id=5089F9282156B4Z&utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL_DSN+AM&utm_keyword=

https://drugstorenews.com/nacds-hails-indiana-law-saying-it-expands-access-pharmacy-based-care