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Standards and Guidelines

Files with labels - "Standards, Clients"At the heart of the CAAHEP accreditation system are our nationally-recognized Standards. All CAAHEP Standards have certain elements in common, however the Standards for each discipline contain specific requirements for training entry level practitioners in that profession. The Standards are approved by the CAAHEP Board of Directors and are subject to review every five years. The Standards review process is a rigorous one that includes, input from the communities of interest, a public open hearing, and approval by the Committee on Accreditation (CoA) and its sponsoring organization(s).


The Standards review and revision process requires that proposed Standards be posted on the CAAHEP website at least 30 days prior to the date of the open hearing. Please check News and Announcements for current notices of open hearings. If you would like to comment on proposed standards for any of the CAAHEP professions, please email mail@caahep.org.

To review the Standards and Guidelines for a specific profession, please select the appropriate profession below (please note in some instances there may be more than one set of Standards for the profession, if this is the case please contact the appropriate CoA to determine which set of Standards currently applies to your program). Some of the newer professions are currently working on developing Standards and are indicated as "coming soon."

Advanced Cardiovascular Sonography
Anesthesia Technology
Anesthesiologist Assistant
Art Therapy
Assistive Technology
Cardiovascular Technology
Clinical Research Professional
Cytotechnology
Diagnostic Medical Sonography
Emergency Medical Services - Paramedic
Exercise Physiology  
Exercise Sciences
Intraoperative Neurophsyiologic Monitoring
Kinesiotherapy
Lactation Consultant (effective 5/21/18) New!
Lactation Consultant (effective through 5/20/18)
Medical Assisting
Medical Illustrator
Neurodiagnostic Technology (effective 9/1/18)New!
Orthoptics - Standards in development
Orthotic and Prosthetic Assistant - Standards in development
Orthotic and Prosthetic Technician New Appendix B!
Orthotist/Prosthetist 
Pedorthist - Standards in development
Perfusion
Personal Fitness Training
Polysomnographic Technology
Recreational Therapy (effective July 1, 2017)
Recreational Therapy (effective through June 30, 2017)
Rehabilitation/Disabilities Studies - Standards in development
Respiratory Care
Specialist in Blood Banking Technology/Transfusion Medicine
Surgical Assistant
Surgical Technology