ACAOM publishes complete Comprehensive Standards

The Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM) has completed the process of incorporating all ACAOM-accredited programs into a single set of Comprehensive Standards and Criteria for Accreditation (“Comprehensive Standards”), according to a recent announcement.

Institutional standards and criteria as well as those applying to master’s level programs, Chinese herbal medicine certificate programs, professional doctorate programs (PD), and post-professional doctorate programs (DAOM) are all included within the 10 unified standards.

The unification process did not involve a major revision of the master’s level or post-professional doctorate criteria, but rather a reconfiguration into the standards and criteria structure previously adopted for the professional doctorate program.

Master’s level programs were initially incorporated into the Comprehensive Standards in April 2018. Chinese herbal medicine certificate programs were added in August 2018. All self-study submissions involving these programs should be using the Comprehensive Standards, which are unchanged in these areas.

The January 2019 edition is the first to include the post-professional doctorate, following a public comment process late last year. Post-professional doctorate self-studies due after April 1 are required to use the Comprehensive Standards.

Click here to view the new Comprehensive Standards.