2019 Program Certification Mid-Year Updates

By Heather Rich, MPA

The 2019 Program Certification application Submission and Initial Review phase came to an end on July 15, 2019. The 2019 application window opened on December 1, 2018, and closed on February 28, 2019. This year, AACVPR received 667 applications.

With the hard work and dedication from more than 40 Program Certification Reviewers, all the applications were reviewed and decision letters released on July 15, 2019, 45 days earlier than expected!

AACVPR’s Program Certification application requirements are weighted to reflect the most important components of the certification application. Programs that were not initially approved and achieved the required weighting are eligible to participate in the Remediation process. 

Eligibility for Remediation means programs are given the opportunity to work with a Program Certification Reviewer to remediate deficiencies within their current application. It is the expectation that programs participating in Remediation will be able to provide additional documentation to meet requirements and be awarded 2019 Program Certification. There were 273 programs eligible for remediation and 268 accepted and are now working with a reviewer. The remediation process will close on September 13, 2019.

Program Certification also introduced the Annual Audit requirement in 2018 to maintain your program certification. The introduction of the “Annual Report” will help ensure each program certified through AACVPR has up-to-date information and tools needed to maintain the current standards required for certification. 

In 2018, first the Annual Report was released to 604 programs that were due to recertify in 2019, 515 programs or 85% completed their annual reports. In 2019, the Annual Report was released, this time to 1314 programs that were due to recertify in 2020 or 2021, 1179 programs or 90% completed their annual reports.