Accreditation is a system of recognizing educational institutions and professional programs that meet the minimum essentials (standards) in preparing students for practice. Primary education is, and continues to be, responsive to the current clinical practice. A key to the Orthotic and Prosthetic (O&P) accreditation program is ensuring that education remains fundamentally sound, responsible, responsive, and effective. This in turn provides for public confidence in the integrity and quality of O&P education and residency programs." (1)
The accreditation of O&P educational programs bestows credibility and stature on all practitioners credentialed by the American Board for Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics, Inc. (ABC) as Certified Prosthetists and/or Orthotists. As in all allied health medical professions, accreditation is critical to ensuring established standards of education that will, in turn, assure a certain level of competency in the abilities of practitioners providing direct patient care. Accreditation also establishes the standards by which competency and quality in the delivery of health care services are measured. Although sometimes overlooked, it is one of the most important components of the method by which a patient, a physician, a third party payor, or a state and federal health care agency can further assure quality health care services.
Enhancement of the pathway to competency of ABC Certified Orthotists and Prosthetists, through university based education programs, has always been the foundation on which professional growth in O&P has occurred. This foundation has been particularly important in O&P, because the profession requires individuals to be trained with a unique blend of knowledge in a variety of medical and engineering sciences. Fully accredited, sound educational programs driven by appropriately structured essentials and guidelines are critical to maintaining standards consistent with advancing technology and patient needs. They are the essential elements in the advancement of the highly specialized multi-disciplinary profession of orthotics and prosthetics.
The process which would eventually lead to O&P's recognition as a true allied health profession was preceded by the disbanding of the profession's former educational accrediting organization, the Education Accreditation Commission (EAC), in 1990. The EAC, founded in 1972, was the only standards setting and accrediting body for existing university-based O&P education programs. The EAC, in collaboration with the organized field of orthotics and prosthetics, was intended to meet the advancing credentialing requirements of O&P practitioners certified by ABC. However, because of the profession's growing educational needs, the EAC was restructured into the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE) in July 1991, and assumed the role as the official O&P education accrediting agency.
NCOPE was charged with the responsibilities of addressing issues critical to O&P education and for developing national O&P education essentials and guidelines for all university-based programs, that would gain formal recognition by the AMA. This recognition, however, did not come until after months of investigation and review by the AMA Council on Medical Education, Division of Allied Health Education and Accreditation, and the Committee on Allied Health Education and Accreditation (CAHEA), the predecessor to the current Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).
The AMA's formal recognition of NCOPE's "Essentials and Guidelines for an Accredited Educational Program for the Orthotist and Prosthetist" in August 1993, marked a significant turning point in establishing credible national accreditation standards that all O&P education programs would be required to meet for appropriate recognition by the medical community and public at large.
Although Orthotics and Prosthetics have always been generally recognized and considered allied health occupations, the AMA's Council on Medical Education did not officially recognize this until September 1992. This recognition occurred through the efforts of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (AAOP) and the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) who were jointly seeking the development of a nationally accepted O&P educational pathway.
As a result of this recognition, the educational requirements of ABC Certified Orthotists and Prosthetists are the only pathways recognized by the CAAHEP, and qualify for recognition by the U.S. Department of Education. Along with this, both AAOP and AOPA were accepted and approved by the AMA Council on Medical Education as the official collaborating and sponsoring organizations for the O&P profession.
The AMA officially recognizes only professionals who have completed an educational program which complies with or meets the CAAHEP approved NCOPE education essentials and guidelines. This accreditation process and recognition is, in turn, recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and meets their requirements for students seeking financial aid for their education. Since CAAHEP has accepted the NCOPE undergraduate essentials and ABC requires the NCOPE essentials as the only appropriate education pathway for practitioners seeking certification by ABC, it is the only education track for orthotists and prosthetists which is seeking recognition by the U.S. Department of Education.
The formal recognition of orthotics and prosthetics as true allied health professions by the AMA and recognition of the educational requirements established by the NCOPE Essentials and Guidelines for an Accredited Educational Program for the Orthotist and Prosthetist, clearly establishes the ABC