Maintaining Certification

The National Board for Certification of Orthopaedic Physician's Assistants (NBCOPA) / The National Board for Certification of Orthopaedic Assistants (NBCOA) In 1981, the NBCOPA/NBCOA established the requirements for obtaining continuing medical education (CME) credits in order to maintain certification. Recertification consists of obtaining and submitting a minimum of 120 hours of CME credit (at least 50% of the credits submitted must be orthopaedic related) every four years with the appropriate fees.

Current OPA-C/OA-Cs who are NAOT or approved OPA organization members pay $2 per CME credit while non-members pay $5 per CME credit. Please note that if the OPA-C/OA-C does not complete the 120 CME hours within their four year cycle, he or she must recertify by examination. Link to TCOPA Membership application HERE

Deadline for submission of CME's will be October 31st of the year you are due to recertify. If CME's are received after October 31st, a late fee of $100.00 will be assessed. New certification acknowledgment will be sent by the end of the year.

REMINDER: When earning and submitting your CME credit hours, make sure that you are also earning "orthopaedic related" credit hours versus just general medicine CMEs. When the NBCOPA/NBCOA CME Committee reviews the CMEs submitted, they are looking for at least 50% of the CMEs to be orthopaedic based. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Rosey Villarreal at shredless@hotmail.com.

If your address or contact information has changed, please send update through contact page.

Download the NBCOPA/NBCOA Recertification Form

NOW ACCEPTING Payments through PayPal - Make payments to NBCOPA.info@gmail.com - See below for PayPal Button. Put OPA-C number in the MEMO section so we can associate with correct person. See below for pricing and convenience fees.

On Time Renewal- Non Member costs (non TCOPA or NAOT) - $600.00

Member Costs (TCOPA or NAOT members) - $240.00 + $10 convenience fee = $250.00 it total fee is not paid then renewal will not be processed

Late Renewal is same as above but + $100.

Need Free CME, Visit https://www.medscape.org sign up for Orthopedic CME and Epocrates has Medicine CME. Also www.doximity.com to sign up for a "dialer" that allows you to mask a phone number to allow you to call patients without your personal number showing www.doximity.com/dialer/home.

No CME submission will be awarded for more than one category.

Category I: Programs with Accredited Sponsorship
Any continuing medical education sponsored by an accredited CME organization; College courses and educational courses in health/health services are also accepted. A minimum of 40 Category I hours must be earned for recertification within each certification period of four (4) year.

Category II: Medical Teaching Grand Rounds & Presentations
Teaching physicians and personnel in the allied health profession (outside of normal job responsibilities) can earn one CME hour per lecture hour given. A maximum of 50 hours can be earned.

Category III: Books, Papers, Publications
Five (5) credit hours are awarded for each publication, paper or book chapter that is first-authored by the applicant. Credit is also allowed for medical editorial work. A maximum of 50 hours can be earned in this category.

Category IV: Medical Administrative CMEs
Any health-related business education can earn credit hours. A maximum of 15 hours will be awarded.

Click here for Category Samples

Questions about recertification or certification verification should be addressed to Melody Raymond at nbcopa.info@gmail.com.

NBCOPA/NBCOA: MAINTAINING CERTIFICATION

NBCOPA/NBCOA CREDIT HOURS CAN BE EARNED IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

RECERTIFICATION FORMS SHOULD BE SENT TO: