New Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative Forms to Stimulate Interprofessional Engagement

PRESS RELEASE

Chicago, IL, Washington, DC and Silver Spring, MD — In an effort to strengthen ties across the health professions and better serve the public good, several of the nation’s leading accrediting agencies are pleased to announce the formation of Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC). Members of HPAC include the:

• Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)
• Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
• Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)
• Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA)
• Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)
• Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME)

HPAC members are committed to discussing important developments in interprofessional education (IPE) and exploring opportunities to engage in collaborative projects. It is anticipated that as HPAC evolves and develops activities, additional members from other health care accreditation organizations would join. HPAC will communicate with stakeholders around issues in IPE with the common goal to better prepare students to engage in interprofessional collaborative practice. After reviewing each participating agency’s accreditation standards regarding IPE, HPAC members agreed that the definition of IPE and competency domains for health profession students identified in the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) report (https://ipecollaborative.org/uploads/IPEC-Core-Competencies.pdf) are fundamental to educational programs in the health professions accredited by the HPAC members.

The participating agencies will meet regularly and host meetings on a rotating schedule. HPAC will respect the independence of accreditation standards, procedures, and decisionmaking of each participating accrediting agency.

About Members of the Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC)

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) is the national agency for the accreditation of professional degree programs in pharmacy and providers of continuingpharmacy education. ACPE is an autonomous and independent agency whose Board of Directors is derived through the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), and the American Council on Education (ACE). To learn more about ACPE, visit www.acpe-accredit.org.

The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) serves as the accrediting agency for colleges of osteopathic medicine. The COCA reviews, evaluates, and takes final action on accreditation status, and communicates such action to appropriate state and federal education regulatory bodies. In addition, the COCA approves the standards, policies and procedures for college accreditation. The COCA reviews policy directions on predoctoral osteopathic medical education, and monitors and maintains high-quality osteopathic predoctoral education through the college accreditation process. Learn more at www.osteopathic.org.

The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is an autonomous accrediting agency that ensures the quality and integrity of baccalaureate, graduate, and residency programs in nursing. CCNE serves the public interest by assessing and identifying programs that engage in effective educational practices. CCNE accreditation supports and encourages continuing self-assessment by nursing programs and supports continuing growth and improvement of collegiate nursing education and post-baccalaureate nurse residency programs. Visit http://www.aacn.nche.edu/ccne-accreditation to learn more about CCNE.

The Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) is recognized by the United States Department of Education as the national accreditor for dental education programs, including predoctoral dental education programs, advanced dental education programs and allied dental education programs. The Commission functions independently and autonomously in matters of developing and approving accreditation standards, making accreditation decisions on educational programs and developing and approving procedures that are used in the accreditation process. It is structured to include an appropriate representation of the communities of interest. Learn more at http://www.ada.org/en/coda.

The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) is an independent agency recognized by the US Department of Education to accredit schools of public health and public health programs offered in settings other than schools of public health. These schools and programs prepare students for entry into careers in public health. The primary professional degree is the Master of Public Health (MPH) but other baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees are offered as well. Visit www.ceph.org for more information.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredits medical education programs leading to the MD degree in the United States and Canada. The LCME provides continuous quality improvement through its accreditation activities for medical education programs leading to the MD whose students are geographically located in the United States or Canada. Learn about LCME by visiting www.lcme.org.

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