The Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions (CoAEMSP), under the auspices of the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), invites its communities of interest to comment on the "Proposed Annotated CAAHEP Standards for EMSP".

SUBMIT COMMENTS: all comments must be received through the online survey.
 

Comments sent by U.S. Mail, email, and faxes are NOT accepted.

Organizations receiving this announcement are encouraged to notify their constituents of the opportunity for public comment. Public comments intended for consideration by the CoAEMSP must be received no later than December 31, 2014.

In addition to the online survey tool, the CoAEMSP will be holding listening sessions on the following dates and times via GoToMeeting:

The CoAEMSP is responsible for developing and periodically revising the The CoAEMSP is responsible for developing and periodically revising the CAAHEP Standards and Guidelines in order to maintain: a) compliance with CAAHEP policy, including the Standards Template; and b) congruence between the educational preparation of students and the accepted state of practice for the discipline.

Arkansas State EMS Director Greg Brown

Arkansas EMS officials knew their pass rates on the NREMT exam were low; they also were concerned about the quality of their educational programs and the state's entry requirements. They felt it was time to do something about it.

While training committees were already working on finding the cause of the low test scores, and attempting to identify solutions, State EMS Director Greg Brown took the bull by the horns. He believed part of the solution was to invite the CoAEMSP to visit

Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medical Sciences, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Danny Bercher, PhD

and see if they could provide help. The first-ever retreat of its kind was the impetus for re-commitment and change.

Greg was joined by Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medical Sciences at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Danny Bercher, PhD, who assisted with the retreat that occurred earlier this year. Together, they met with CoAEMSP Executive Director, George Hatch; Assistant Director of Accreditation Services, Gordon Kokx, and CoAEMSP Chairman of the Board, Douglas York.

Visit CoAEMSP at the NAEMSE 2014 Annual Symposium. We will be conducting workshops, and exhibiting in Booth #304. See our schedule below and register today!

The CoAEMSP Board of Directors, on recommendation by the Finance Committee, voted to increase the annual accreditation fee by $200 effective July 2015. The $200 increase allows for improvements to be made for increased efficiency, service, and tools to make the accreditation process easier for programs. Improved and extended services include:

• Increased responsiveness, service, and  efficiency

"By the time the fee increase goes into effect, it will be nearly a decade since annual fees were raised," states CoAEMSP Executive Director George Hatch.  "This increase lets us serve our programs with the proper staff, resources, and cutting-edge technology."

"While other committees of CAAHEP might charge as much as $2,500, we are committed to keeping ours as low as possible, and raising fees only when absolutely necessary," says CoAEMSP Chair of the Board Doug York.

In early May the 2014-15 annual fee invoices were emailed to programs that are CAAHEP accredited, hold the CoAEMSP Letter of Review, or are in the process of seeking accreditation. The annual fee of $1200 was due July 1, and is considered late if not received by July 31. Programs that have not paid the fee by July 31 are subject to a processing fee of 10% of the overdue accreditation fee amount. Processing fees will be assessed August 1 for those programs that have not paid the annual fee. There are no exceptions.