- Background and Definition
The American College of Healthcare Executives offers a voluntary credentialing program that allows its members the opportunity to earn certification and recognition among peers as a healthcare executive. As part of this credentialing program, candidates are required to attend a minimum number of continuing education programs each year.
A contact hour for face-to-face programs is defined as 60 minutes of instructional time, and excludes time allotted to meals, breaks, and other time not dedicated to instruction.
Category I programming is defined as any face-to-face continuing education programs, seminars, institutes, Congresses, or conferences conducted by ACHE as well as certain specifically designated self-directed educational programs offered by ACHE.
Category II programming is defined as all other face-to-face continuing education programs conducted or sponsored by any organization qualified to provide educational programming in management. Approval for these programs is based on appropriateness of program title, program provider, and program length in contact hours.
Recognition of high-quality educational programs sponsored by organizations other than the American College of Healthcare Executives coupled with the increased demand for pre-approval of these programs has prompted ACHE to establish the following standards for organizations requesting pre-approval of Category II credit.
- Criteria
- Continuing Education Organization. The only groups that will be pre- approved for Category II programming are those that have developed specific continuing education functions or activities as part of their business functions at their corporate structure.
- Minimum Number of Programs. The organization must conduct at least three different educational programs annually.
- Program Focus. Each continuing healthcare management education program must:
- address a topic directly related to the practice of healthcare management;
- be conducted by qualified instructors with experience in management education who are able to determine educational needs, plan a program, select additional faculty, and implement and evaluate the program.
- provide an appropriate number of hours of instruction to adequately address the topic in question, but no less than 60 minutes in duration.
- Program Evaluation. The organization's continuing education programs must have a formal evaluation process. The organization must provide evidence of this evaluation process in the application, and be conducted by qualified professionals with experience in healthcare management education.
- Application Process
To receive pre-approval of Category II credits for all programming, the following information must be submitted to the ACHE at least six weeks prior to the first scheduled program.
- Documentation. A completed application including the mission of the organization and how it relates to continuing education, classification of the institution or organization applying for pre-approval, typical continuing education offerings, target audience, number of continuing education activities in the last year, and evidence of program evaluation including: information describing the methods used to evaluate programs, a sample of a participant evaluation form and a description of how the evaluation information is used. In addition, a copy of faculty biographies for all listed educational events must be included with the application.
- Program Listing. A listing of the programs for the coming year that will receive pre-approval, including: dates, titles, estimated number of participants, names of the faculty, time duration of each educational event, and the agenda for the educational event(s). For late additions to the schedule, the above stated information must be forwarded to the ACHE as soon as it is available.
- Sponsorship Organization. The sponsoring organization must be responsible for developing the program content.
- Application Fee. An application fee of $600 will be assessed each time an organization applies or reapplies for pre-approval of educational programming.
- Duration
Each organization will be required to reapply every three years for this pre-approval. In the interim, the organization will be required to send ACHE a yearly update of the programs that will be approved for the coming year. The pre-approval will be non-transferable to other organization and will be granted for jointly-sponsored programs only if the approved organization is the primary sponsor of the program.
- Marketing by Pre-approved Organizations
Once an organization is authorized to grant Category II credits hours by the ACHE, the organization is encouraged to use the following statements in promotional materials related to the educational event(s):
"(Organization name) is authorized to award (XX) hours of pre-approved Category II (non-ACHE) continuing education credit for this program toward advancement, or recertification in the American College of Healthcare Executives. Participants in this program wishing to have the continuing education hours applied toward Category II credit should indicate their attendance when submitting application to the American College of Healthcare Executives for advancement or recertification."
