Accreditation Commission

The Accreditation Commission reviews all applications for accreditation, assesses the applying organization’s self study, communicates any questions, missing components and interim suggestions, grants or denies interim approval, oversees site visits, and grants or denies final accreditation. The Commission is made up of persons with expertise in all management aspects of health education centers - governance, staff, finances, fund development, program, and marketing. For information about current Commissioners, please view the Commissioner Biographies.

Scope of Work

The Commission is a nine member panel responsible for guiding the NAHEC Accreditation Program and for establishing accreditation policy and procedures.  It is supported by the NAHEC staff.

Each commissioner is responsible for:

• attendance at four-six Accreditation Commission meetings held each year (either face-to-face or by phone conference)
• thorough review of the materials of HECs seeking initial and subsequent accreditation, prior to Commission meetings
• succinct and accurate oral presentations on those materials to the other commissioners

Each commissioner represents NAHEC’s Accreditation program:

• at annual meetings of health education centers
• through participation on panels
• through individual counseling sessions with HEC staff who are currently involved in, or  seeking guidance about, the Accreditation Program

Time Commitment and Expense Reimbursement

 Commission members will usually contribute approximately 5 – 10 days of time each year. 

Each commissioner serves terms of three years and may be re-appointed for up to three consecutive terms.  However, a Commission member may be appointed for a shorter term to fill an un-expired term of another commissioner.  The Commission Chair may serve up to two consecutive three year terms as Chair.

Individual commissioners may be asked to participate on two-person site visit teams as needed. 

All expenses, except time, are covered or reimbursed for meetings and site visits.

Qualifications

Commissioners bring expertise from within the health education center field and/or from systems that support the management work of the centers’ leadership. At least two thirds of the commissioners are senior health education center professionals with significant managerial experience in all areas of HEC management and operations and with such proficiency that they can form sound judgments on the total operations of a HEC.  No more than one third of the commissioners come from the academic, legal, financial, and business management fields and have experience working with health education centers as board members, vendors, or consultants.

The NAHEC Board President appoints three commissioners. The Members Council appoints three members to be commissioners. The commission itself appoints three commissioners. Self nominations are accepted. Please see the Commissioner Application/ Nomination Form.

Commissioners can not be members of the NAHEC Membership Committee and must absent themselves when their organization is being considered for accreditation.