Accreditation Manual FAQ
Boundaries for Approved Providers
Q: Please explain the new rule regarding the boundary for approved providers.
A. An organization with a majority of CE activities targeted to nurses
- from states within their region (see map) OR
- from within the region where the activity is to be provided or a state contiguous to it.
May apply to an approver to become an Approved Provider or may apply to ANCC to become an Accredited Provider, or may continue to apply for individual activity approval from an Accredited Approver.
An organization with a majority of CE activities targeted to an audience of nurses from
- outside the states of their HHS region (see map below) or states contiguous to that region
must apply to ANCC to become an Accredited Provider.
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Confused? Follow This Step-by-Step Guide
For the MAJORITY of your activities:
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Do you target the marketing of your continuing nursing education activities to |
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individuals only from states other than the state where the activity is to be provided? |
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NO - STOP. You may apply to be an approved provider of |
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continuing nursing education. |
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YES - GO to question #2. |
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Do you target the marketing of your education activities only to nurses |
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in states contiguous to the state where the activity is to be provided? |
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NO - GO to question #3. |
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YES - STOP. You may apply to be an approved provider of |
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continuing nursing education. |
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Do you target the marketing of your education activities only to nurses |
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within the regions (as recognized by the Department of Health and |
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Human Services, http://www.hhs.gov/about/regions/) where the activity is |
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to be provided? |
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NO – Go to question #4 |
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YES - You may apply to be an approved provider of continuing |
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nursing education. |
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Do you target the marketing of your education activities only to nurses |
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within the region where the activity is to be provided and to nurses in states |
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states contiguous to that region? |
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NO - STOP. Your MUST apply to be an accredited provider |
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of continuing nursing education. |
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YES - You may apply to be an approved provider of continuing |
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nursing education. |
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Q. What is the reason for this rule?
A. There have been incidences of providers being denied by one approver who then go to a series of other approvers until they find one that will approve their activity. These come to our attention through complaints from participants. It is therefore more efficient and protects the participants if ANCC reviews and accredits all of the providers reaching the larger audiences, so that they can be monitored more closely.
Q. Must a provider whose majority of CE activities include internet activities/enduring materials or other learner-paced activities that target a nationwide audience apply to ANCC?
A. Yes.
Q. Can providers who target a nationwide audience and are already approved continue with their approval until its expiration date?
A. Yes.
Q. What are the deadlines for implementing this new criterion?
A. The deadline are as follows:
| Item |
Effective Date |
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Curent approval expires between
August 1, 2009 and September 1, 2010
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Approval may be extended to but no later than September 1, 2010 |
| Approval expires after September 1, 2010 |
Approval expires on the date as currently indicated for the approved period |
Q. A multi-regional provider is defined as an organization that targets > 50% of their activities outside of their designated region. Is that 50% relevant to the total number of activities or total number of activities offered?
Example: I provide activity A, activity B, and activity C. I provide A six (6) times; B one (1) time; and C twelve (12) times. Is the > 50% of three (3) or of 19? If I target A and B within the region, I should be good - > 50% of my activities are targeted within the region. However, if I target C outside of the region, overall, I may be OK, but of the 19 actual presentations of the activities I offer, 12 of them are out-of-region and thus, >50% are out-of-region, potentially making me a multi-regional provider.
A. The >50% is relative to the total number of activities provided (19 in the example given above).
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How Do Approver Units Implement the New Criteria?
Q: How does the accredited approver unit require approved providers implement the new criteria?
A. In terms of your approval of applications: The applications should be reviewed using the information that the applicant was given regarding approval. So, if an applicant received the application materials in July but didn't submit their application until September, they would still be reviewed using the information they received in July. So it would not be unusual to see some applications – especially those for approved provider status – being reviewed up until October 2009 using criteria previous to 2009. We know that sometimes information may be downloaded from your web site at an undisclosed time. Our suggestion is that you assume the information was downloaded at an average amount of time ordinarily needed to develop an application for approval (~8 weeks for activity applications, ~3 months for approver applications). Please make every effort to have your applicants using the 2009 criteria by the end of October 2009. This is 6 months following release of the application manual.
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Commercial Product Companies
Q. I understand that, as of August 1, 2009, commercial interest companies can no longer apply for accreditation. Can they apply for approval?
A. No. Nor can they apply to have their activities approved. However, there is an alternate form of accreditation. The Nursing Skills Competency Program (NSCP)
offers accreditation for programs that utilize both knowledge-based testing and skill observation methods of participant outcomes in nursing skills.
Q. Can commercial interest companies that are currently accredited or approved as providers continue with their status unit it expires?
A. No. The new regulations go into effect July 31, 2009. On August 1, 2010 (1 year following the effective date of these regulations), the accreditation status of the currently accredited commercial interest organizations will be terminated. The approval status of commercial interest organizations will be terminated at this time also.
Q. What is a commercial interest company?
A. Commercial product companies include:
- Any entity either producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients or
- An entity that is owned or controlled by an entity that produces, markets, re-sells, or distributes health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.
Exceptions are made for non-profit or government organizations and non-health care related companies.
Q. What are the deadlines for implementing this new criterion?
A. The deadline are as follows:
| Item |
Effective Date |
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Curent approval expires between
August 1, 2009 and September 1, 2010
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Approval may be extended to but no later than September 1, 2010 |
| Approval expires after September 1, 2010 |
Approval expires on the date as currently indicated for the approved period |
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Nurse Planner Experience
Q. There is a requirement for the nurse planner to "have education or experience in the field of education or adult learning". What kind of experience do you mean?
A. These are examples and are certainly NOT comprehensive:
- Engagement on several CNE planning committees,
- Academic education focused on education (Masters in Education, for example), or participation in a training session for Nurse Planners
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Record Keeping
Q. Recordkeeping no longer requires participant addresses but does require "unique identifier information". What are examples of this identifier?
A. Identifier information might be the last four digits of the participants social security number (never the full number, license number or credit card number), birth date OR address. Some organizations have a system that automatically generates a unique identifier number for a new learner. It is a way to track an individual participant that conceals the identity of the participant from office staff, other participants, or others. Only the Nurse Planner or his / her designee has the key to identify which Unique Identifier Code matches with each participant.
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Miscellaneous
Q. What is probation?
A. When the COA determines that a re-accrediting application is only 60-74% compliant, the COA will award probationary status for one year. The applicant will submit a progress report, undergo a second site visit (at their expense) and the COA will review them again. If the applicant is at least 75% compliant this time, three more years accreditation will be awarded (for a total of four years).
Q: Do expiration dates only have to be on enduring materials?
A. Yes.
Q. The minimum number of hours that can be awarded is now 0.5 Hour (that is, 30 minutes). Can we still award contact hours in 15 minute increments over one hour? E.g., 1.25 contact hours?
A. Yes.
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