Verification for FCVS Must Come Direct from PA Programs

Kevin Caldwell
Director, FCVS

PA program administrators should be aware that for the Federation of State Medical Boards Credentialing Verification Service (FCVS) to verify student graduation from a PA program, that information must come directly to FCVS from the program.

As you know, PAs applying for state licensure or hospital privileges must go through a process wherein the medical board, hospital, or credentialing verification organization must verify the PA’s education directly with the program from which he or she graduated. This is called primary source verification, since the credentialing is performed with the primary source for that information.

A recent trend of some programs has been to send students’ transcripts to a clearinghouse, expecting that the clearinghouse will verify all requests from entities seeking credentialing information for a student. This method can be used for a variety of purposes (membership in professional associations, employment screening, etc.); however, it is not acceptable for state licensure or hospital privileges.

FCVS acts on behalf of PAs seeking licensure nationally. They perform primary source verification directly with the PA programs and forward those documents to state medical boards. They keep the verifications stored and secure for the remainder of the PA’s career in medicine so that programs will only need to complete the request once. Should you, as program personnel, receive a request for verification of education from FCVS, please complete the verifications so that they are acceptable for the licensure of your students.