ACAOM Report '06

The Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (“ACAOM” or “Commission”) wishes to thank the leaders of the NFTCOM for inviting ACAOM to provide a written report on recent ACAOM activities and projects that may be of interest to your membership.

ACAOM’s core mission is to develop high educational standards for the acupuncture and Oriental medicine profession, and to accredit colleges and programs that meet those standards. 

To better achieve this mission, ACAOM has been engaged in the following activities.  

U.S, Department of Education Recognition:  ACAOM is currently recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (“USDE”) as a reliable authority for quality education and training in the field of acupuncture and Oriental medicine.  USDE recognition of an accrediting agency permits the schools and programs they accredit to establish eligibility for their students to receive Title IV federal student financial aid. To achieve USDE recognition, accrediting agencies must demonstrate that they meet USDE’s many rigorous standards for recognition, and must be reviewed periodically for that recognition to be maintained.

ACAOM submitted its petition in 2005 to seek continued USDE recognition, and to request an expansion of that recognition to also cover the Commission’s candidacy school reviews.  The USDE reviewed that petition, conducted an on-site inspection of ACAOM’s accreditation records and processes in September, and conducted a public hearing on ACAOM’s recognition on December 8, 2005.  

Based on that review, the USDE found that ACAOM fully meets ALL USDE’s recognition standards, renewed ACAOM’s recognition for USDE’s maximum 5-year period, and also granted the Commission’s request for an expansion of its recognition to cover ACAOM’s candidacy school reviews.   As a practical matter, this means that ACAOM candidate schools and programs (in addition to those that have achieved accreditation) can now use ACAOM’s candidacy status to establish eligibility for their students to participate in Title IV federal student financial aid programs.   

Post-Graduate Doctoral Programs (“Doctor of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine” or “DAOM”):

In 2001 ACAOM adopted accreditation standards for post-graduate doctoral programs in acupuncture and Oriental medicine (“DAOM”). Since that time, several schools have received ACAOM approval to begin offering those programs and two DAOM programs have recently achieved ACAOM candidacy status.  Admission to this program requires graduation from an ACAOM-accredited or candidate Master’s-level program in acupuncture and Oriental medicine or its international equivalent, and thus should be distinguished from a “first-professional”, entry-level doctoral program. Although the Commission is not currently recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for its DAOM program reviews, the Commission will be pursuing this recognition.

The Commission recently announced proposed amendments to the current requirement for post-graduate DAOM programs that they be taught only in the English language. The principal reason that the Commission had adopted an “English-only” requirement was based on the limited number of site visitors who possessed the language skills needed to evaluate such programs. However, over the past three years the Commission has implemented an aggressive site visitor training program, and this has resulted in a growing number of site visitors that are fluent in the Chinese and Korean languages.

The Commission thus has submitted for public comment a proposal that would permit DAOM programs to also be offered in languages other than English, including in Korean and Chinese. If you wish to review that proposal and provide written testimony, please visit our web site www.acaom.org, click the “News and Meetings” link, and review the item titled “Public Comment Sought on Proposed Amendments to Standards for Post-Graduate Doctoral Programs.”

First-Professional, Entry-Level Doctoral Programs

Based on growing support within the Oriental medicine profession for first-professional, entry-level doctoral programs in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, the Commission has been active in developing accreditation standards for reviewing such programs. To ensure that the standards for this program are developed in a professional manner, and to ensure that they will advance the evolving needs of the profession and will also meet U.S. Department of Education strict recognition requirements, the Commission is committed to implementing a thorough and credible standards development process. 

A key component of this process is ensuring that the standards developed for entry-level doctoral programs involves broad-based input from all the Commission’s key constituencies, including professional AOM organizations, practitioners, educators, and licensing boards. Accordingly, ACAOM established a Doctoral Task Force to develop a list of the professional competencies that might be included in possible accreditation standards for reviewing such programs.

The Task Force is comprised of representatives of organizations that reflect a broad cross-section of the profession, including representatives of the American Association of Oriental Medicine (AAOM), National Federation of Chinese TCM Organizations (NFCTCMO), Federation of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Regulatory Agencies (FAOMRA), the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS), Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Alliance (AOM Alliance), Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM), and the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM).  

The Task Force conducted meetings in March 2004, November 2004 and June 2005, culminating in the development of a comprehensive list of the professional competencies expected of first-professional doctoral program graduates.  Consistent with the accreditation standards for other USDE-recognized doctoral-level health care professions, rather than specifying in detail specific required courses and clinic training requirements for doctoral programs, the Task Force articulated the professional competencies or outcomes that are expected of program graduates. Doctoral programs would be required to demonstrate that their students are achieving all the required competencies and their stated educational objectives to meet the standards for accreditation. 

The ACAOM Doctoral Task Force Report expressly states that any doctoral standards developed must incorporate all the professional competencies expected in Masters’ programs, including those governing Oriental medicine theory, diagnostic skills, treatment planning, treatment techniques, herbal studies, biomedical clinical sciences, ethics and practice management, etc. In addition to the training expectations for students in Master’s programs, the Task Force Report also states that accreditation standards for the entry-level doctorate needs to include sufficient training to prepare program graduates to practice successfully in the emerging, complex, multi-disciplinary settings in which future practitioners may find themselves, such as hospital based practice, practice in integrative medicine settings with allopathic providers, etc.   

The Commission is currently reviewing the Task Force Report to determine the next steps towards developing accreditation standards for the entry-level doctorate.  The Commission welcomes public comment on the report and would highly value any comments or suggestions issued by NFCTCMO members.  If NFCTCMO members or any other members of the profession wish to provide written comments on the report, the full Task Force Report can be downloaded from ACAOM’s web site at www.acaom.org under the “News and Meetings” link under the item titled “Public Comment Sought on Proposed Amendments to Standards for Post-Graduate Doctoral Programs.”

ACAOM Launches New School Resource Web Site/Provides Workshops to Improve Educational Programs

New Web Site:

ACAOM has launched a new test web site to serve as a resource for programs in ACAOM’s accreditation process. The intent of the site is to improve the education provided by ACAOM accredited and candidate programs. The new site www.acaom2.org focuses on training in outcomes assessment, with the objective that individuals accessing the site will:

ACAOM Workshops:

ACAOM has been conducting workshops designed to improve the educational programs in AOM. The last workshop was conducted at the Commission’s fall 2005 meeting, and focused on how programs can assess and improve their educational programs.

Site Visitors Wanted/Receive NCCAOM CEU Credit

ACAOM is seeking qualified practitioners to serve on site visit teams, particularly individuals who are fluent in Korean and Chinese.  Practitioners who serve on site visit teams review a self study report submitted by an acupuncture or Oriental medicine program documenting how they meet ACAOM‘s accreditation standards, followed by a three-four day site visit to the program with a team of experienced site visitors.  Programs in the accreditation process cover all expenses of site visitors including hotel, meals and travel.  Site visitors also receive a $200/day honorarium for their service as site visitors.  NCCAOM Diplomates who serve on site visit teams also earn 10 CEU/PDA credits for NCCAOM recertification purposes.

Site visit teams review all aspects of the educational program, including clinic, office and classroom facilities, compliance with OSHA/HIPPA, patient recordkeeping practices, quality of classroom and clinical training/instruction, adequacy of institutional resources to support quality training, quality of faculty, adequacy of library and other learning resources, etc.   Site visitors review all categories of program records, including patient files, curriculum records, student academic and admissions records, governance, records, financial records, OSHA/Clinical Manuals and Handbooks, etc., followed by interviews of all program constituencies, including administrative staff, faculty, students, alumni, board members, and assessing the quality of actual classroom and clinical instruction.

Site visitors are encouraged to attend a site visitor training workshop prior to serving as an ACAOM site visitor, but this is not mandatory. As an NCCAOM PDA/CEU provider, NCCAOM Diplomates who attend ACAOM site visit training workshops receive 3 PDA/CEU credits for recertification purposes. Workshops are typically held in conjunction with the spring and fall national AOM meetings and provide training in evaluating the quality of AOM educational programs seeking ACAOM accreditation or candidacy status.  Future workshops may be held in conjunction with conferences conducted by state professional AOM associations.  Scheduled site visitor training workshops are announced in the Commission’s newsletters, which can be accessed by clicking the “Newsletter” link on ACAOM web site at www.acaom.org or http://acaom.org/newsletter.asp.

Concluding Remarks:  It is an honor for ACAOM to have been granted an opportunity to provide this report.  As the Commission values comments from all its constituencies, if NFCTCMO members have any suggestions or comments on ways the Commission can improve or strengthen education within the profession, those comments are welcome.   Please do not hesitate to contact the Commission should you wish to provide constructive comments or suggestions.  We look forward to working with you in the future relative to our share objectives of improving education within the profession.