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A Look Back at NAMSS in 2024

By Kirsten Shaffer, CAE

Each year I look forward to drafting this update to celebrate the accomplishments of NAMSS. 2024 was a year full of growth and change, and I’m remarkably proud of our achievements and our investments for the future.

I want to first thank the more than 100 incredible NAMSS volunteers who give so much of their time and energy to support our current goals and help us work toward the future. Our committee, task force, and work group volunteers show up consistently, work hard, and lend their considerable knowledge and experience to support the many activities of NAMSS. The Board of Directors is engaged, innovative, and committed to the best for our members and the industry.

Updated NAMSS Mission and Vision

The Board approved a new strategic plan in mid-2024. They also recognized the need to update the NAMSS mission and vision to ensure they match our goals and ambitions and that they reflect a changing industry. A task force of NAMSS volunteers, state leaders, past presidents, and members was convened, and they spent five months reviewing and revising the NAMSS mission and vision, which were approved by the Board of Directors in December 2024.

Our Vision

To unify and empower Medical Services and Provider Enrollment Professionals to positively impact access to quality care across the healthcare continuum.

Our Mission

As the leading voice for Medical Services and Provider Enrollment Professionals, NAMSS advocates for recognition, provides transformative education, and fosters a dynamic community that advances the profession in an ever-changing healthcare environment.

New NAMSS Values

In addition to updating our vision and mission, the task force developed values. These values are the fundamental principles and beliefs that guide our actions, shape our culture, and set the tone for interactions among volunteers, staff, and members.   

• Advancement: Cultivating professional growth, supporting individuals in advancing their careers, no matter where they are on their journey.
• Collaboration: Achieving greater impact by working together, leveraging our collective strengths and expertise.
• Innovation: Driving change and creativity through adaptability and resilience.
• Excellence: Championing excellence by expecting the best in all we do.
• Belonging: Welcoming all individuals across the spectrum of our profession, fostering an inclusive and supportive community.
• Enthusiasm: Bringing passion and a positive mindset to our association, inspiring others with our energy and dedication.

The NAMSS strategic plan sets ambitious goals for our future. The full strategic plan can be found on the NAMSS website. 

NAMSS Education

Education has always been a cornerstone of NAMSS’ mission, and 2024 was a very successful year. We offered 12 webinars (always free for members!), and one Town Hall meeting, which welcomed more than 8,000 attendees. We offered eight virtual and five in-person courses, which welcomed nearly 1,000 students. We also continued to offer our on-demand education and saw nearly 700 students take advantage of these opportunities. In addition, we released two new offerings in 2024. Our “Proficiency in Practice: Peer & Performance Review” course was hosted in December for more than 50 students. We’ll be hosting a second iteration of this course in Q2 2025, so stay tuned for registration information. And finally, we hosted the “Accreditation Series” over the summer, featuring seven accreditation organization speakers paired with an MSP. This series welcomed more than 350 students.

NAMSS education will continue to be a focus for the future, and we look forward to sharing more new offerings in 2025. Our education schedule for the first half of 2025 is available now!  Currently, NAMSS volunteers and subject matter experts are working to create our Certified Provider Enrollment Specialist (CPES) preparation course and study guide. Those will be available for purchase in the summer of 2025. 

I want to thank each of our instructors, webinar presenters, and committee members who worked tirelessly in 2024 to provide outstanding education. 

NAMSS Certifications 

Certified Provider Enrollment Specialist (CPES)

In the fall of 2025, NAMSS will launch the first exam for the new Certified Provider Enrollment Specialist (CPES)! This certification is designed to meet the growing demand for expertise in this area. The 2025 Candidate Handbook is available now and includes the CPES exam content outline, testing windows, and much more.  

This certification, offered by the Certification Commission of NAMSS (CCN), is the first and only true provider enrollment certification in the industry. What does this mean? Certification is meant to test knowledge of the industry and the job role. Like CPCS® and CPMSM®, our new provider enrollment certification has used industry-accepted best practices in the development of the exam content. This includes a needs assessment, a job task analysis, multiple levels of item writing, and exam development and validation.

CPCS® and CPMSM®

NAMSS certifications are the only NCCA accredited certifications for the medical services profession, and they continue to grow. We are proud of our 3,943 CPCS®-certified professionals and 1,784 CPMSM®-certified professionals. We thank the Certification Commission of NAMSS (CCN) for their continued work in ensuring our exams are well-validated and current with the industry. 

NAMSS Advocacy for the Industry

Annual Industry Roundtable

NAMSS' 2024 roundtable gathered stakeholders in the practitioner-quality space to discuss continuous monitoring and its role in measuring practitioner quality. The 2024 roundtable included a moderated panel of MSPs who spoke to the importance of MSPs in continuous monitoring processes and the role MSPs have in ensuring that these processes capture practitioner quality. 2024 roundtable organizations included:

• American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)
• Accreditation Commission for Healthcare (ACHC)
• American College of Surgeons (ACS)
• Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
• ECRI & the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Patient Safety Organization
• Methodist Health System
• National Association of Healthcare Quality & Safety (NAHQ)
• National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)

The full roundtable report can be found on the NAMSS website.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupation Classification

In August 2024, NAMSS made a significant stride in elevating our profession by submitting a formal request to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to revise its Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Currently, MSPs are categorized under human resource professionals, which limits our ability to collect data and highlight the unique contributions of our profession.

Thanks to our dedicated SOC Task Force and Government Relations Senior Manager Molly Ford, we’ve submitted a strong proposal for the MSP profession to be recognized as a standalone occupation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will next review all submissions to the call for revisions and will issue a proposed draft of its 2028 SOC manual in 2026. NAMSS will continue to collect data and engage strategic partners in support of a unique SOC code in preparation for the BLS’ 2026 announcement.

Read more about our work and the submission on the NAMSS website. 

Ideal Credentialing Standards 

The National Association Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) published a 2024 revision of its Ideal Credentialing Standards (ICS) to ensure best practices for practitioner credentialing align with evolving healthcare landscapes and service-delivery models. The 2024 ICS provides healthcare organizations additional clarity and guidance on primary-source verification processes, as well as credentialing for telehealth and locum tenens providers.

The 2024 ICS revision includes 13 essential data elements to help organizations standardize and streamline best-practice processes for initial-practitioner credentialing. The 2024 ICS includes language approved by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation for inquiring about practitioner health status. The revision also provides guidance for initial-practitioner credentialing as it relates to the traditional medical staff, as well as telehealth and locum tenens practitioners.

The NAMSS Ideal Credentialing Standards are available on the NAMSS website. 

NAMSS Annual Conference 

Our 2024 Annual Conference in Denver was a wild success! We saw our second-highest conference attendance ever, welcoming more than 1,600 in-person attendees, a 20% growth over 2023. We rolled out several new session formats, including our “Connect & Reflect” sessions, a panel discussion general session, and more interactive concurrent sessions. We celebrated our annual award winners, enjoyed networking and socializing, and participated in a well-rounded and diverse selection of education sessions. We’re already planning our 2025 Annual Conference, taking place in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 28–Oct. 1, 2025. Mark your calendar — registration will open in May!

State Leadership Conference

In February 2024, we held our virtual State Leadership Conference with leaders from 48 state affiliates in attendance. The theme was “Focus Forward: Inspiring Better in 2024”, and topics included Building Leadership Skills; Career Growth as an MSP; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: A Primer for State Leaders; Ethical Leadership; and a review of the book “The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. We value the opportunity to gather and celebrate our state leaders each year and look forward to our 2025 State Leadership Conference at the end of February.  

NAMSS Membership   

We ended the year with just over 5,800 members and welcomed more than 1,600 new members in 2024. This is our fifth consecutive year with an overall growth, pointing to the value of membership and NAMSS resources for MSPs. 

Looking Forward

For 2025, the NAMSS Board is focused on meeting the objectives of our strategic plan. We are excited to launch the first iteration of the NAMSS Tomorrow’s Leaders Program as a way to support individuals who are interested in growing their leadership skills to help elevate the profession and to build the next generation of leaders for NAMSS. Our hope is that this investment into our membership will also increase our pipeline of future volunteer leaders for NAMSS and a new generation of strong MSP leaders for the profession.

In addition, the Board of Directors is focused on transparency, and we will continue to explore better ways to share information and explain our decisions with the membership. In 2025, we look forward to instituting regular Town Hall webinars and a membership meeting at the Annual Conference. We also encourage you to reach out to us at any time if you have questions, concerns, or recommendations. All Board member contact information is available on the NAMSS website.

It is a true pleasure to support the work of NAMSS and to work with each of the volunteer leaders who gives so much of themselves for the organization. Cheers to a successful 2024 and to the challenges, lessons, and wins that 2025 will surely bring.