POCN marks a decade of PA recognition as workforce centrality grows
POCN used National PA Week to mark the 10th anniversary of America’s Top PAs, naming 15 honorees for 2026 and placing a bright spotlight on the expanding clinical role of physician associates in U.S. care delivery. The program is framed as peer-nominated recognition across major specialties, but its larger significance lies in how closely the awards track a workforce now embedded in first-contact care, chronic disease management, prescribing, and longitudinal follow-up.
Nearly two in five U.S. patients received care from an NP or PA in 2024, according to a 2026 joint analysis by the American Academy of Physician Associates and POCN. In practical terms, that means the profession is no longer functioning at the margins of access. It is helping absorb the everyday demand of outpatient medicine, urgent care, emergency settings, and specialty practice, where patients often meet a PA before they meet any other clinician.
The anniversary also arrives alongside a larger reminder: 201,000 certified PAs are responsible for hundreds of millions of patient interactions annually in the United States. That scale changes the conversation from individual recognition to system design. When clinicians across multiple specialties are carrying that volume of care, the quality of training, mentorship, scope support, and retention becomes a patient-safety issue as much as a workforce issue.
Peer recognition now reflects a broader care model
The America’s Top PA program is unusual in one important way: it is peer-nominated. That matters because the people voting for these honorees understand the clinical load, the documentation burden, the triage decisions, and the interpersonal labor that often go unnoticed outside a clinic or hospital hallway.
POCN described the program as the only peer-nominated recognition initiative for PAs and NPs across every major clinical specialty. This year’s class includes clinicians working in dermatology, hospice and palliative medicine, orthopedics, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, urgent care, cardiovascular medicine, sexual medicine, internal medicine, preventive cardiology, geriatric psychiatry, emergency medicine, primary care, and obesity medicine. The spread matters. It shows how far the PA role has moved beyond a single service line or practice model.
A single sentence captures the practical reality:
These clinicians are not supplementing the system; they are helping hold it together.
Fifteen honorees, 12 states, and a wide clinical footprint
The 2026 honorees represent 12 states and a broad span of patient populations and settings. Andrew Baker was recognized in dermatology in Ohio. Ryan Baldeo was honored in hospice and palliative medicine in California. Sarah Bolander represented orthopedics in Arizona, while Amanda Brosnan was named for family medicine in Texas.
Other honorees included Cayla Daniele in obstetrics and gynecology in Connecticut, Heather Davis-Lopez in urgent care in Texas, Camille Joyenne Dyer in cardiovascular medicine in Florida, Aleece Fosnight in sexual medicine in North Carolina, James R. Kilgore in internal medicine in Alabama, Viet T. Le in preventive cardiology in Utah, Tajuana Lordeus in geriatric psychiatry in North Carolina, Mary Masterson in emergency medicine in Maryland, Jason Prevelige in emergency medicine in Connecticut, Stephanie Zeiber in primary care in Virginia, and Joseph Zucchi in obesity medicine in New Hampshire.
The list is more than ceremonial. It mirrors the reality that PA practice now spans high-acuity decision-making, preventive counseling, chronic disease management, and relationship-based care. In specialties such as cardiology, obesity medicine, and preventive cardiology, the PA role often includes risk-factor modification and medication initiation, where steady follow-up can influence whether a patient progresses toward avoidable hospitalization or remains stable in outpatient care. In emergency medicine and urgent care, the contribution is different but no less consequential: faster triage, earlier treatment, and better throughput can shape the entire patient experience.
Leadership, education, and community impact sit beside bedside care
POCN positioned the honorees not only as clinicians, but also as educators, founders, owners, mentors, and advocates. That broader framing reflects how many PAs now move between direct care and professional leadership. Some teach future clinicians. Some help build clinics. Some contribute to public health efforts or serve in community advocacy roles. The profession increasingly depends on that kind of distributed leadership because patient access problems rarely resolve through clinical time alone.
Linda Garcia of POCN said PAs are central to the patient experience and that their role continues to grow. She also pointed to the scale of the profession, noting that more than 200,000 certified PAs are shaping care delivery across the country. The message is less about celebration than visibility. When clinicians are responsible for so many encounters, recognition becomes a way to make the invisible visible: the counseling visit that prevents escalation, the medication adjustment that keeps chronic disease controlled, the extra conversation that improves adherence, and the handoff that avoids a gap in care.
A decade milestone with a workforce message attached
POCN founded the America’s Top PA program 10 years ago, and this anniversary arrives as the organization continues to build around peer-led support for PAs and NPs. Its stated mission centers on networking, shared ideas, education, clinical resources, and professional support. In this context, the awards function as both recognition and recruitment signal: they reinforce the value of practice-based excellence while reflecting the profession’s expanding reach.
The timing also aligns with a longer trend in care delivery. Patients increasingly move through systems where access, continuity, and specialty capacity depend on teams rather than solo clinicians. PAs are now a structural part of that model, especially in settings where demand outstrips physician supply or where care must be extended beyond a single visit. Recognition programs will not solve workforce shortages, but they do help define what excellent PA practice looks like when the system relies on it.
POCN said it will continue its 10th anniversary celebration in November with the 2026 America’s Top NP honorees during National Nurse Practitioner Week. The year-long framing suggests the organization sees a shared workforce story across the two professions. For now, the 2026 PA honorees stand as a concrete record of where that story is being written: in outpatient clinics, emergency departments, specialty practices, palliative care, and the community settings where continuity of care is built one patient at a time.