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QUESTIONS ASKED BY POTENTIAL AND CURRENTLY ENROLLED
STUDENTS
Is acupuncture a recognized medical profession?
What is the difference between accreditation and candidacy?
Why should I attend a program or college that has ACAOM accreditation
or candidacy?
Can you recommend particular colleges to me?
How does ACAOM accreditation affect my ability to get financial
aid?
How does going to an accredited/candidate college of acupuncture and
Oriental medicine affect my ability to get licensed to practice in a state?
Which colleges offer accredited doctoral programs?
Can I enroll in an accredited doctoral program without first
doing a master's degree program?
What is the difference between accreditation and certification?
What is the difference between an acupuncture program and an Oriental
medicine program? Is one preferable over the other?
What could happen to me if my institution has a problem with
its accreditation or candidacy?
Am I allowed to make a complaint to ACAOM against a program?
What is the complaint procedure?
Is
acupuncture a recognized medical profession?
Acupuncture is now a licensed medical profession in over forty states plus
the District of Columbia, and acupuncture treatment is covered by some health
insurance plans. Increasingly, hospitals and medical clinics have licensed
acupuncturists on staff, and the NIH funds scientific research in the area
of acupuncture and Oriental medicine. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine
is well on its way to becoming a fully recognized medical profession.
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What
is the difference between accreditation and candidacy?
Candidacy is a pre-accreditation status that the Commission grants to a
program if the program can demonstrate that it has the likely ability to
gain accreditation. Most states that license acupuncturists accept graduation
from a candidate program as meeting the educational requirements for licensure.
Currently, however, unless a program is also accredited by a regional accrediting
agency, candidacy status does not enable a program to provide federally
funded financial assistance.
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Why
should I attend a program or college that has ACAOM accreditation or candidacy?
Candidacy and accreditation are important indicators of a program's quality;
in order to gain this status, programs undergo a rigorous review process
that assesses them in relation to a comprehensive set of curriculum and
other types of requirements. Additionally, nearly all U.S. states that license
acupuncturists require graduation from a program that is accredited or that
has candidacy status (some also recognize certain foreign programs or state-approved
programs that are not accredited). Accredited programs are also eligible
to provide federally funded financial assistance.
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Can
you recommend particular colleges to me?
ACAOM can provide you with a list of programs that includes contact information,
the accreditation or candidacy status, and the title of the degree or certificate
issued by the program. However, the Commission is not able to recommend
a specific program or to comment on the quality of a program other than
to indicate whether it has met ACAOM's standard for quality of education
and training necessary to achieve ACAOM candidacy of accreditation status.
ACAOM's list of accredited and candidate programs is published on this web
site.
How
does ACAOM accreditation affect my ability to get financial aid?
Accredited programs are eligible to apply to the US Department of Education
to provide federally funded financial assistance.
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How
does going to an accredited/candidate college of acupuncture and Oriental
medicine affect my ability to get licensed to practice in a state?
Most U.S. states that license acupuncturists require graduation from a program
that is accredited or that has candidacy status. In addition, virtually
all states require passage of the national certification exam administered
by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
(NCCAOM) to be eligible for state licensure. NCCAOM specifically requires
graduation from an ACAOM accredited or candidate program to be eligible
to sit for NCCAOM's certification exam(s). If there are particular states
that you would like to practice in, you should contact the applicable state
licensure authorities to see if they license the practice of acupuncture
and Oriental medicine and to find out the educational requirements for licensure.
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Which
colleges offer accredited doctoral programs?
At this time, no colleges offer accredited doctoral programs in Oriental
medicine. This is because doctoral standards were adopted in 2000, and no
colleges have yet completed all of the steps necessary to offer a doctoral
program. We anticipate that a growing number of schools will develop doctoral
programs over the next several years; however, it will be a while before
these programs become widespread around the U.S. In the meantime, the current
master's level training enables students to become licensed and legally
practice in the vast majority of states.
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Can
I enroll in an accredited doctoral program without first doing a master's
degree program?
As noted above, accredited doctoral programs are not yet available. Initially,
doctoral programs will be offered in institutions already offering accredited
master's degree and doctoral programs will only be offered as advanced programs
for individuals who wish to gain more extensive training and a higher level
credential. In the future, there may be stand-alone doctoral programs that
are not based on completion of masters program requirements.
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What
is the difference between accreditation and certification?
Accreditation is a process that ensures the quality of an educational program,
while certification is an examination process that determines whether an
individual practitioner has learned a body of knowledge necessary for safe
and effective practice in a field. Accreditation and certification are related:
in order to be eligible for certification by the National Commission for
Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, a practitioner must
be a graduate of an ACAOM accredited or candidate school, or its international
equivalent.
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What
is the difference between an acupuncture program and an Oriental medicine
program? Is one preferable over the other?
Acupuncture and Oriental medicine programs share similar curricula, with
one important difference: Oriental medicine programs include the study of
Chinese herbal medicine while acupuncture programs do not. This means that
acupuncture programs tend to be shorter in terms of credits and hours than
Oriental medicine programs, since herbal medicine educational requirements
are fairly substantial.
Since
some state acupuncture licensing boards require training in Chinese herbal
medicine, students who are planning to apply for licensure in these states
are advised to enroll in an Oriental medicine program. Apart from this
important pragmatic consideration, it is not possible to say whether one
type of program is preferable to the other. Chinese herbal medicine is
an effective and widely practiced Oriental medicine modality; however,
some practitioners favor a practice based primarily or entirely on acupuncture.
Finally, it should be noted that the educational standards that ACAOM
has developed for doctoral level training do require substantial advanced
training in Chinese herbal medicine.
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What
could happen to me if my institution has a problem with its accreditation
or candidacy?
Accreditation or candidacy provides important benefits to students. By providing
independent, external oversight of educational programs, accreditation and
candidacy help ensure that students receive high quality professional training.
Also, accredited programs are eligible to participate in federal loan programs.
Finally, many state acupuncture licensing boards base eligibility for licensure
on graduation from an accredited or candidate program. If a program has
major problems with its accreditation or candidacy status, these benefits
to students may be jeopardized. However, it should be noted that it is relatively
rare for an institution to actually lose its accreditation, and most programs
that achieve candidacy ultimately succeed in achieving accreditation. Just
because an institution looses its accreditation or candidacy status does
not mean that students in the program will not be able to achieve state
licensure. For example, students in this scenario may choose to transfer
to an accredited or candidate program and seek to have their prior course
work accepted by the new institution as transfer credit.
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Am
I allowed to make a complaint to ACAOM against a program?
ACAOM requires programs to establish student grievance procedures, and generally
these procedures allow for a reasonable resolution of most student complaints.
ACAOM will, however, review a complaint against a program that alleges a
violation of an Essential Requirement, Criterion, policy or procedure of
the Commission. Before entertaining a complaint, ACAOM requires the student
to exhaust all of the program's grievance procedures for getting the complaint
resolved.
It
is important to emphasize that the Commission does not serve as forum
for resolving or adjudicating disputes between individuals and programs
over such things as grades, readmitting a student, or other individual
matters not directly related to ACAOM's requirements and policies.
What
is the complaint procedure?
Any complaint against a program must be forwarded to the main ACAOM office
located at 7501 Greenway Center Drive, Suite 760, Greenbelt, MD 20770, and
must:
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Be
written and signed;
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Identify
the individual, group or organization making the complaint, and their
relationship to the program;
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Present
evidence that the program's grievance procedures have been exhausted;
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Describe
the specific nature of the complaint, including data or other documentation;
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Present
evidence that the program has violated an Essential Requirement, Criterion,
policy or procedure of the Commission;
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Describe
the status of legal action, if any, related to the complaint; and
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Grant
permission to send the entire complaint to the program.
If
ACAOM staff determine that the complaint can be addressed by the Commission,
the Commission will inform the program of the complaint and request a
written response within 30 days. Depending on the nature of the complaint
and response, ACAOM staff may attempt to resolve the issue informally,
or it may be addressed at a hearing before the full Commission or a Commission
sub-committee. The complete procedure for reviewing complaints is contained
in section 6.9 of the Accreditation Handbook.
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