Promoting and Protecting the Value of Certificationby William Ellis, MS, RPh
Executive Director
Board of Pharmacy Specialties
BPS is involved in many activities to promote and protect the value of certification. One of the lesser-known activities is BPS membership in the Professional Certification Coalition (PCC). PCC was established in July 2018 as a non-profit organization to address “efforts to enact state legislation that would undermine the activities or recognition of certifications developed or offered by non-governmental, private certification organizations”. To date over 100 organizations are members of the Coalition.
The Coalition was founded by the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE), the leading developer of accreditation standards for professional certification programs, and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), the leading organization for the association management community, with legal support provided by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. BPS was an initial member of the coalition and remains active today. PCC membership includes both voluntary professional certification organizations and private certification organizations that issue credentials that state governments require for licensure in those professions. The PCC has been active in opposing legislation harmful to private certification programs and those they certify, including those potentially impacting BPS and board-certified pharmacists.
PCC successfully lobbied for an amendment to an Ohio Bill to remove a provision calling for government certification to supplant private certification in some instances and to add a safe harbor provision exempting recognition of private certification from the evidentiary standard requiring a showing of present harms to public health and safety. Another recent example of PCC activity included work in Missouri to protect individuals who obtain a credential describing themselves as a “registered” professional in their field so they can do so without fear of legal liability under a facially contrary Missouri statute. Unlike in pharmacy where “registered” in Registered Pharmacist (RPh) is a licensure designation granted by the state boards of pharmacy, the “registered” in Registered Dietitian (RD) or Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) is a private certification designation awarded by Commission on Dietetic Registration and the property of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The PCC educated Missouri officials on the nuances of terminology and their meaning. Given the level of misunderstanding that government officials may have around the terminology, BPS views these PCC activities as important.
If some readers are curious as to the extent of these threats to professional certification, in the 2018-2019 year the PCC tracked over 80 bills in 38 states. In 2019-2020, the PCC has tracked over 85 bills in more than 30 states. BPS staff spend time and energy on a wide range of professional affairs activities including legislative and regulatory issues impacting certification and licensure. Monitoring and responding to legislative and regulatory issues support the ability for certification organizations to operate successfully and support the certificants’ ability to practice within certain states if certification is linked to licensure. BPS defers to state and national organizations as part of their mandate to monitor and advocate on pharmacy-specific government affairs activities; however, BPS will monitor pharmacy specific regulations or legislation as they related to certification. For example, a few years ago, BPS collaborated on efforts to overturn a regulation in Puerto Rico that would have disallowed pharmacists from using their BPS and other initials after their name unless they paid a fee to the state board of pharmacy. BPS has also written to state boards of pharmacy urging them to adopt regulations, that some states have already adopted, that allows current maintenance of BPS certification be used to satisfy some of the continuing education requirements for license renewal.
I share this information to highlight some of the important “behind the scenes” work BPS volunteers and staff do to promote and protect the value of your credentials. There are many other activities that BPS is involved with in addition to the work we are known for in the recognition of specialties and the related testing activities to award BPS credentials. In future blogs, I will share information about other non-testing initiatives that support our mission to ensure that BPS Board Certified Pharmacists are recognized within healthcare delivery systems while serving the needs of the public and the pharmacy profession.
William Ellis
BPS Executive Director