Greetings from your Certification Team!

As we prepare both the CHSE and CHSOS programs for reaccreditation, I wanted to take some time an introduce you all to our accreditation agency and detail how they exist to benefit both of our unparalleled programs, candidates, and potential candidates.

So ... who is the NCCA, and what do they do?

The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) was formed to develop standards of excellence for voluntary certification programs in healthcare. It is important for certification programs as its standards, which are consistent with The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, promote credibility, trust, quality, and continuous improvement for certification programs.

NCCA accreditation signifies that a certification program has met stringent standards of quality and credibility. It assures stakeholders, such as employers, professionals, and the general public, that the certified individuals have achieved a high level of competence and proficiency in their respective fields. Accreditation from a reputable organization like NCCA instills trust and confidence in the certification program.

Accreditation involves a rigorous evaluation process that assesses various aspects of a certification program, including its governance, examination development and administration, recertification process, and overall adherence to established best practices. By meeting these standards, an accredited certification program demonstrates its commitment to maintaining high-quality standards, ensuring that certified individuals possess the necessary knowledge and skills. Certification programs must provide evidence of how it meets these requirements and resubmit updated documentation on a regular basis. This ongoing evaluation and improvement of certification programs and focus on continuous improvement helps ensure that the certification program remains relevant, up-to-date, and aligned with industry standards and best practices.

NCCA accreditation is important for certification programs as it:

- establishes credibility
- assures quality
- enhances marketability
- facilitates legal recognition
- promotes ongoing improvement

On the broad scale, it benefits both the certification program providers and the certified individuals by instilling trust, opening doors to professional opportunities, and contributing to the overall integrity of the certification industry.

I hope this gives you all some insight on the efforts we take to provide high-quality exams and why we make ourselves kind of crazy every year providing documents to the NCCA. It's worth it!

As always, be excellent to each other,

Rachel Araujo
SSH Director of Certification