Accreditation

There are two types of accreditation: Institutional and Programmatic (or specialized). CAAHEP is a programmatic accrediting body.

• Institutional Accreditation helps to assure potential students that a school is a sound institution and has met certain, minimum Standards in terms of administration, resources, faculty and facilities.
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• Programmatic (or Specialized) Accreditation examines specific schools or programs within an education institution (e.g., the law school, the medical school, the nursing program). The Standards by which these programs are measured have generally been developed by the professionals involved in each discipline and are intended to reflect what a person needs to know and be able to do to function successfully within that profession. The CAAHEP accreditation process is designed to evaluate and ensure that the Standards of each profession under the CAAHEP umbrella are met by each program.

In addition, accreditation in the health-related disciplines also serves a very important public interest. Along with certification and licensure, accreditation is a tool intended to help assure a well-prepared and qualified workforce is providing health care services.

Accreditation is a review of a program, institution or service, therefore, an individual CANNOT be accredited. Individuals may become certified, licensed or registered, but NOT accredited. CAAHEP is not involved in the certification, licensure, or registry of individuals. To learn about certification, licensure, or registry, individuals must contact the appropriate certifying body for their profession.

Accreditation Process Assessment

Since 2000, CAAHEP has been collecting data from all programs that have gone through the accreditation process regarding their experience with the CAAHEP process. After each CAAHEP Board of Directors meeting, all programs that were on the agenda for accreditation actions receive an electronic Accreditation Process Assessment survey. Over the years, CAAHEP has made changes to the accreditation notification letters, program certificates, as well as adjustments to administrative processes based on the feedback received from programs.

If your program recently received accreditation from CAAHEP and you have not received an electronic invitation to complete the Accreditation Process Assessment, please notify us.

If you are interested in reviewing results from the most recent CAAHEP meeting, please contact staff to receive a copy of the results.

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