Hugh Bonner, PhD, FASAHP

CAAHEP, an Incredible Resource

Last September, at the Association of Specialized & Professional Accreditors'  Workshop in Atlanta, Jennifer Anderson-Warwick, who represents both the ARC-AA and CoAEMSP, and I "brainstormed" about the value-added resource CAAHEP provides both the CoA's as well as our sponsors. Jennifer cleverly labeled our discussion, "CAAHEP, an Incredible Resource." We sent our ideas on to Kathy Megivern to get a better understanding of what it costs to obtain certain basic services, as well as the cost to CAAHEP to provide our partners other intangible opportunities.

 From a financial perspective, our partners gain a significant advantage by being a part of the CAAHEP system rather than being a stand-alone association. The annual cost of several "mundane, but essential activities" such as Board Liability Insurance ($7,000), legal services costs ($10,000), Go-to-Meeting activities ($5,000), and the important third-party CHEA recognition ($6,000) are significant by themselves.

But the more intangible values of being a part of CAAHEP - those items that do not provide quantifiable outcomes but are extremely important to our partners - are reported as costs to CAAHEP. For example, the annual contributions from CAAHEP to provide scholarships for CoA personnel to attend the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA) staff development workshops is approximately $5,000; the Committees on Accreditation Leadership Workshop in January and the CoA Summer Workshop cost CAAHEP about $60,00 for each program. These services provide networking opportunities and the chance to exchange best practices information among peer CoAs and other professionals in the accreditation arena. Unfortunately, the outcomes of these dialogues are not measurable other than participant satisfaction and good will. When placing a price next to each of these value-added items, Jennifer cleverly labeled this item as "Priceless!"

Perhaps the most valuable resource CAAHEP provides is an accreditation process that is truly autonomous from the professional association in each field. "Undue influence" of professional associations in the accreditation process is often what gives specialized accreditation a "bad name" among the leadership of schools and colleges. The CAAHEP process assures that no one profession will be able to exert such inappropriate influence over accreditation decisions.

Students of programs accredited through CAAHEP are assured that the program has undergone an independent review to insure the program meets the nationally-recognized Standards for preparing competent entry-level practitioners in each profession.

It's only because of the support of every organization associated with CAAHEP that we are able to provide these invaluable services.