As examples:

The LO is: Evaluate patient clinical data to formulate accurate differential diagnoses for primary care patients.

Would an appropriate preceptor evaluation statement (representing an observable behavior, and graded on a likert scale) be: "Formulates accurate, prioritized differential diagnoses appropriate for the outpatient adult and geriatric setting?" (question cont in comments below...)

As part of this review, we are considering organizing our program competencies around the five domains identified in Standard B4.03.

Within each domain, we would develop specific competency statements and assessment methods to evaluate student achievement throughout the curriculum. (question cont. in comments below...)

I am confused by the application asking to list the number of FTE principal faculty the program has determined is sufficient, but then describe how the SI provides sufficient program faculty. Help?

Thank you!!

My graduation rate is 85.5% for one year and 82% for the subsequent year. Is a report due for graduation rate. We believed that the 85.5% graduation rate did not meet fall below the threshold. Are we correct?

My graduation rate is 85.5%. Would that count as "below the 85% threshold"?

This is in response to a post in the last thread.

"If the program lists its requirements and marks them as met, are the clinical sites asking for the specific date of the immunization? If the program lists its requirement for, for example, titer level indicating immunity or being greater than ___, are clinical sites asking for specific results? If so, let me know, and I'll take it to the commission for an answer" Yes, the clinical sites want the specific dates of the vaccinations and/or the lab confirmation of a titer. The clinical sites often ask the program for these results and expect it to be submitted within 24 hours.

Our principal faculty are all hired as 1.0 FTE Teaching faculty, and workload is calculated by the university with regards to student-facing activities.

Departmental admin work, Committee service, scholarship, etc. are not included in the calculations but are expected to be performed by all faculty.

Although PF capture those efforts for performance reviews, there is no quantification of that work. We realize that this is something that needs to be added to our ongoing assessment process.

Can you please recommend where to find/how to create a workload calculator for efforts outside of teaching when no protected time is provided through the university for non-teaching efforts. Thank you.

Also, do you want them listed by SCPE's or alphabetical by last name? I wasn't sure if all the pediatric SCPE should be grouped together...

If the IOs need to be listed out per specialty elective, students would prefer a link to each rather than every list shown in the syllabus. In this case, does the portal allow additiional uploads for a course (the syllabus followed by PDF of IOs per specialty)? Otherwise, do you have recommendations on how we can best accomplish the portal demands and the B1.03 standard for the elective rotations?

Appreciate your help

Our program utilizes a shared pool of SCPE sites and Clinical Instructional Faculty (CIF) across both campuses. Consequently, our quality assurance process evaluates SCPE site and CIF performance collectively to provide the most accurate assessment of educational quality. (question cont in comments below...)

I'm calculating our 2026 principal faculty (PF) attrition rate and need clarification on whether vacant FTE belong in the denominator.

In 2026, we will lose two PF members, totaling 1.1 FTE (a 0.6 FTE PF who resigned in spring, and a 0.5 FTE PF transitioning to a 0.25 FTE IF role in August before resigning in December). We were approved to hire two 0.8 FTE PFs; one starts in August, and the other remains vacant. This gives us 4.3 FTE filled in August 2026, or 5.1 FTE including the vacant position.

The Manual defines the annual attrition rate as (# FTE lost / # FTE assigned to the program) × 100%. Does "# FTE assigned to the program" include approved-but-vacant FTE? In other words, is the correct calculation 1.1/4.3 or 1.1/5.1?

Thank you for your guidance.

1. When is the annual report due?

2. Regarding change forms in the ARC-PA portal, it states that personnel changes do not need a CAO letter. Personnel changes can occur both for hiring and for resigning faculty. I just want to make sure that a CAO letter is not needed for both hiring a new faculty member and also if a faculty member is resigning.

Thanks for your time/help.

If a student is returning to a pediatric site that is used as a core pediatric site. Is it acceptable for the learning outcomes to be the same for both an outpatient pediatric core as well as the elective.

I understand the topic lists need to be more specific and will review the other post regarding LOs and IOs before writing in. Thank you!

I am looking at student attrition and wanted to know the best way to classify a student that withdrew for medical reasons in the first two weeks of the program. We are offering them a deferral to the next cohort and the institution considers this a non-matriculant as they withdrew before the deadline.

Would this student still need to be listed as decelerating in the attrition table OR would we just have one less in the new students for the cohort?

Thanks.

We were searching for a question that we remember being in the padlet previously and it appears that old questions and answers have been removed. Is there a process for how long Q&A remain available?

Thank you.

Example: MMS to MSPA.

Secondary question related to timing, does the six months imply the date of conferral or start of the program when that degree would be conferred?

We have 1 distant campus. To preserve anonymity, our student evaluations of the clinical preceptors, clinical courses and clinical sites don't ask for the student to indicate their home campus from the didactic year. Although we have tried, we are unable to separate the survey data into main and DC1. Is it sufficient that we put all of the data on the "main" tab? Thank you.

For the admission tab in the C1.01 6th edition application, the instructions include, " Data may include data points related to the full applicant pool, interview candidates, and matriculants." Is the expectation that this tab includes data on all of these categories or is data on only matriculants acceptable?

Thank you!

The instructions indicate that, when available, we should provide the URL to our policy website rather than excerpting policies in Appendix 3/5/7. Our challenge is that our website links to one general PA Program Handbook page. Within that page, policies are organized under multiple dropdown menus by Index, Section, and Policy Number.

To make it easy for reviewers to locate the relevant information while also following the instructions explicitly, would it be appropriate to provide the handbook URL at the beginning of the narrative response for each standard, such as A3.05, and then reference the specific handbook section/policy number within the narrative text?

Alternatively, we could still excerpt each individual policy in Appendix 3/5/7 for clarity, but I want to ensure we are following the directions as intended.

Thank you for any guidance.

Thank you!

On the Virtual Tour of Program Facilities document, it states that the file size is limited to 100 mb.

This is an extremely small video file, even with compression:

1. Is this limit of 100mb for each file, meaning multiple files can be sent each not exceeding 100mb? or the total file size?

2. Is there a limit to how many files may be submitted for the virtual tour?

Thank you.

The program will submit the appropriate change form; however, does the program still need to submit the quarterly reports about this position if the position is not going to be replaced?

We have a new faculty member that meets the definition of principal faculty by working as a 0.6 FTE with primary academic responsibility assigned to the PA program and reporting to the program director. All of our principal faculty have release credits for scholarship, service and assessment aligned with the principal faculty responsibilities assigned to them. (question cont. in comments...)

These may be silly questions but I need to clarify for my administration:

1. Can we have an affiliation agreement that is signed on two different pages? Meaning, the last page of the affiliation agreement includes the signature pages. Rather than both signatures being on that page the CEO signed one copy of that page and the Provost signed another copy. Therefore, we have the appropriate signatures but it's not together.

2. Additionally, if the signature date is missing will that be an issue?

I appreciate your time and help with this issue.

In compliance with B4.01, (...question cont in comments below...)

For example, 5th Edition Standard A3.03 requires the program to define, publish, make readily available, and consistently apply a policy stating that prospective and enrolled students must not be required to provide or solicit clinical sites or preceptors. In the application, the program provides a link to the applicable policy and identifies the specific page on which compliance is demonstrated.

Is the program also expected to place a copy of that policy in a folder labeled “A3.03” and highlight the relevant language?

Similarly, for the B standards addressed through Appendix 11, should the program place a copy of each applicable syllabus in every corresponding standard folder and highlight the relevant evidence, even though that information has already been identified in Appendix 11?

We would appreciate clarification regarding the expected level of duplication within the on-site materials.

Our understanding is that course-level instructional objectives are the measurable steps students take toward achieving a broader course learning outcome. More granular objectives may then be provided for individual lectures, modules, or learning sessions. (question cont. in comments...)

Are addendums acceptable for this purpose assuming they are signed or esigned via something like DocuSign?

Demonstrate technical skills: wound closure (sutures or staples are acceptable)

Demonstrate technical skills: surgical hand tying (one- or two-handed tie is acceptable)

Determine the need for referral or consultation.

Thank you!

How does this requirement apply when a program changes its required clinical rotations during an admissions cycle? For example, if a program begins accepting applications in April 2026 for a cohort that will matriculate in May 2027, may the program approve and publish a curriculum change in December 2026, or must the required rotations be finalized and accurately reflected on the website before the admissions cycle opens?

In other words, at what point must the published curriculum accurately reflect the requirements that will apply to an incoming cohort: when applications open, when admission offers are made, or before students matriculate?

The preceptor evaluation of the student lists: "Medical Knowledge, students demonstrated knowledge of: Disorders (listed in Appendix 4) encountered in the elective rotation setting to provide care for patients."

Preceptors have a copy of Appendix 4 so they are aware of the expectations. For technical skills, each elective has a specialty technical skill. And then in the syllabus there is a list of topics and IOs that are specific to each syllabus. Is this acceptable?

• If a student does not perform a technical skill during a particular SCPE (required or elective) can it be "made up" in a different SCPE? For example, if inserting a PIV is a technical skill in a hospital medicine rotation, but the student does not have that opportunity could it be remediated in their surgery rotation if they have the opportunity there (in addition to the skills needed in surgery)? Or does it need to be remediated via simulation or return to campus. (...cont. in the comments...)

Current general syllabus lab IO: Analyze clinical case scenarios to identify key patient problems, generate differential diagnoses, and formulate appropriate diagnostic and management plans across a variety of clinical care settings. (...cont in comments below...)

6. Faculty Member’s total annual compensation shall be $  , which compensation shall be paid in equal monthly installments over the term of this Agreement, subject to applicable withholding for taxes. Such compensation shall be comprised as follows: a.           An annual salary of $   , payable in equal monthly installments. b.            An annual administrative stipend of $  for Faculty Member’s role as PA Program Director.

We have several locations where our faculty provide instruction in their facility. Our institution utilizes a Memorandum of Understanding for these locations as the terms are different than the terms outlined in a full Affiliation Agreement for a SCPE. Is this acceptable to ARC-PA? Also, would these MOU need to be included per this instruction in the 6th edition application, "Append any affiliation agreements for non-clinical sites as an attachment and name file appropriately (e.g., A1.01 U of America.docx)."

I noticed this website is referenced as an example in the A2 PrecptLic SAMPLE Excel file on the "Physician Preceptors" worksheet under the column titled "URL to verify certification – specific to this preceptor." I wanted to confirm that use of this website is acceptable for meeting the board certification verification requirement.

How should programs complete the "Most Recent Certification" field when the official NCCPA verification does not provide this information? Is it acceptable to leave this field blank or using N/A?

Are staff expected to track the amount of time it takes to complete each task? If so, how are Program Directors or leadership expected to verify the accuracy of the information provided?

This seems significantly more complex than evaluating faculty workload, where responsibilities and effort are often more easily quantified. Given the cyclical nature of administrative work, what methodologies or best practices are typically used to assess staff workload in a fair and meaningful way?

When naming our sites in the ARC-PA portal, do they need to match our clinical schedule exactly?

For instance, we have a health network location that houses several departments that host students (i.e. IM, WH, Surgery). In the portal, they are all listed under the physical location of the site, but in our schedule, they have distinct names for clarity.

Thank you!

To demonstrate full compliance with the 12-month employment requirement under Standard A2.06, what documentation is required? Will historical financial/payroll data verifying the recurring 3/9 summer payment suffice, or does ARC-PA require an official verification letter (e.g., from the Provost or HR) formally documenting that the 9-month contract plus the guaranteed 3/9 summer appointment constitutes continuous 12-month employment?

In our institution, tenured faculty—including a tenured Program Director—are exempt from standard annual institutional faculty evaluations. For a tenured PD, what does ARC-PA consider sufficient evidence of institutional supervision and leadership evaluation under the 6th Edition? Specifically, must the Department Chair or Dean conduct a separate, formal administrative leadership review independent of university tenure policies?

Are "remediations" in this worksheet referencing overall course remediations or assessment remediations by course?

Thank you!

The Standard states that all instructional faculty must be evaluated for their effectiveness in thier assigned instruction areas. I have a couple of questions related to this please: (cont. in comments below...)

To meet the CLO, each IO must be met. Is this acceptable to the ARC-PA? Some of the LO include the word "and", but the IOs are specific enough to assess each component without the word "and". Do we need to do anything specific when completing the B3 portion of the 6th edition application to indicate that the very specific assessments are done with the IO and this statement is included? Thank you!

Two questions related to continuing validation site visit preparation.

1. Is the "ARC-PA Site Visit Rationale for Continuing Validation Site Visit Sessions" document, dated 10/2021, still current? It refers to the Self-Study Report as "Appendix 14," which reflects the 5th Edition application structure. I want to confirm whether it remains accurate for programs preparing under the 6th Edition Standards, or whether a revised version is forthcoming.

2. The Rationale states that ten days to two weeks before a site visit, the designated senior institutional official(s) will be reminded of the upcoming visit by the ARC-PA. Two clarifications on that:

a. How is the "designated senior institutional official" determined? Is it the Sponsoring Institution CAO listed in the program's portal record, or a separate designation?

b. Is the official who receives that notification the individual expected to participate in the "Meeting with Key Senior Institutional Officials" session, or are those two roles independent?

Thank you.

"The program is not to exceed the maximum entering class size number(s) for any reason during its next and subsequent admission cycles without prior approval from the ARC-PA for a class increase."

(question continues in the comments...)

Second question, if the FTE was submitted was incorrect, is a letter from the institution and/or HR needed to clarify the correct FTE.

Regarding technical skills for SCPEs. We are trying to determine who should sign off on technical skills. For example, during their cardio (elective rotation), we decided that the technical skill is applying/attaching the ECG leads correctly to the patient's skin. Could this be signed off by the technician and/or nurse overseeing this, or must it be the preceptor? Additionally, one of our technical skills for a different SCPE is a peripheral IV insertion - is this something that could be signed off by an RN or must it be the preceptor? Thanks for your help.

Specifically, if the institution determines that the staff member must be replaced for legitimate performance-related reasons, may it appoint another qualified employee already employed by the institution (in a different department but the same kind of work) to the position? Or must the original staff member remain in the position until after the start of the first cohort to satisfy the accreditation timeline requirements?

Example Total Program Credits is 9. One course goes from 6 credits to 5, and another from 3 credits to 4. The net is still 9, so no change in the total.

Thank you!

Internal med will have “of and adult patient” and “of an elderly patient”

To date, we have published the cost of enrollment applicable to students currently in the didactic year. We would appreciate clarification regarding whether this remains the appropriate approach. Thank you.

I understand B1.03 now explicitly requires course learning outcomes and instructional objectives for each didactic and clinical course, including elective rotations. (cont. in comments below...)

Needle Stick / Cut: Wash the affected area immediately with soap and water for at least 15 minutes.

• Splash to Eyes / Mucous Membranes: Flush thoroughly with water or saline for at least 15 minutes at an eyewash station or clean sink.

Thank you!

Initially, it appeared that the C1.01 template aligned directly with the reporting expectations for the program website. However, it now appears that the information required to be made available to currently enrolled and prospective students may be a simplified version of the reporting required in the C1.01 accreditation template.

Additionally, the instructions associated with the graduation rate template posted on the ARC-PA website appear to use the terms “graduation rate template” and “attrition rate template” interchangeably. Could you please clarify whether these refer to the same reporting requirement/template and confirm the level of detail that should be publicly reported on the program website?

Thank you for your guidance.

We have a course outline of topics listed in each syllabus. These are typically the title or the general subject matter of the lecture. For example, it simply says "neurologic emergencies" or "dizziness" as it highlights the main focus of the lecture. The IOs, of course, go into further detail about the topics within.

Does the topic list need to explicitly list CVA, seizures, guillain barre, etc or is the lecture title outline sufficient?

Scenario- students matriculate October, interviews for the cohort started last November until matriculation. ARC-PA approves increase in March.

Can the program fill the current interviewing/matriculating cohort up to the new max? OR do they have to wait until the new cohort interview cycle opens?

Specifically, should CME funding be equal for all faculty members, regardless of FTE, or should it be prorated based on the faculty member’s FTE within the program?

For example, if a full-time faculty member receives $1,750 annually for CME, would providing $875 to a 0.5 FTE faculty member be considered fair and equitable and sufficient to meet Standard A1.03? Or does ARC expect the same dollar amount to be available to every faculty member, regardless of FTE?

Example: Admissions cycle for 30 students to start in January (spring semester) and 30 students to start in May (summer semester) in the same year.

Is mapping the mission of the program to the program goals sufficient without having mapped the program goals to the curriculum?

Then under A3.09: The program publishes, makes readily available to current and prospective students, and consistently applies policies based on current CDC health professionals’ recommendations and applicable state or country mandates for:

b) international travel (for programs offering international curricular components)

There is a box to "Describe how the program ensures that the program policies required by Standards A3.02–A3.09 are consistently applied."

That seems misplaced and redundant with what is under A3.01. Is that an error?

Which change forms and/or accreditation submissions currently require senior institutional (e.g., Provost-level) approval in addition to the PD signature? And for those, can the Provost assign a designee to approve, or must it be the Provost personally?

Consistent with our reading of A3.12(a), we intend to publicly disclose (a) that Pathway-eligible applicants receive a preference in our admissions review, and (b) the Pathway's eligibility criteria (GPA thresholds, required prerequisite coursework, patient-care experience hours, and technical standards). We do not intend to publish the specific scoring weight given to this preference or how it is used to break ties among applicants, as our understanding is that only the existence of a preference (not the underlying scoring mechanics) requires public disclosure.

We reviewed the Compliance Manual before writing, but did not find a clear answer to one question: beyond publicly disclosing the preference and its eligibility criteria, does the Program need to take any additional steps (such as internal documentation in a specific format, prior notification to ARC-PA, or inclusion in a specific accreditation reporting cycle) to be fully compliant with A3.12(a) for this type of pathway?