FAQs

What Is Accreditation?

Accreditation is the process by which a voluntary, non-governmental agency or organization appraises and grants accredited status to institutions and/or programs or services which meet predetermined structure, process, and outcome criteria.

The ANCC Accreditation program includes:

• Accreditation of nursing continuing professional development organizations
  (Nursing Continuing Professional Development Accreditation)

• Joint accreditation for interdisciplinary continuing education with Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) (Joint Accreditation)

• Accreditation of programs that transition nurses into new practice settings (Practice Transition Accreditation Program)

Please Note: Accreditation for organizations is distinct from certification for individual nurses. For information on continuing education requirements for nursing certification, visit the ANCC Certification Center or email certification@ana.org or call 1.800.284.2378.

What is Nursing Continuing Professional Development Accreditation?

Accreditation in NCPD recognizes organizations which demonstrate excellence in the ability to deliver nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) or approve organizations or individuals that have demonstrated excellence in the ability to deliver NCPD. The Accreditation Program ensures the integrity of the accreditation process through systematic, evidence-based evaluation of application materials submitted by qualified applicants for Accredited Provider or Accredited Approver status. ANCC's NCPD Accreditation Program contributes to improving healthcare outcomes by providing a voluntary peer-review process that defines standards for high performance in providing quality NCPD and measures compliance with those standards for organizations that elect to apply for accreditation.

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Find an ANCC Accredited Organization

What is Joint Accreditation?

The Joint Accreditation Program is an organizational credential for organizations planning inter-professional continuing education. This program is managed collaboratively by ANCC, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).

Goals are to support inter-professional collaborative practice (IPCP) through inter-professional continuing education, and to streamline the accreditation processes. Inter-professional education (IPE) is designed to address the professional practice gaps of the healthcare team using an educational planning process that reflects input from all professionals who make up the team. The education is designed to change the skills/strategy, performance, or patient outcomes of the healthcare team.

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What is the Practice Transition Accreditation Program (PTAP)?

PTAP sets the global standard for nurse residency and fellowship programs that transition registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) into new practice settings. PTAP provides a road map for organizations to develop new residency or fellowship programs, or to evaluate the quality of their existing programs. These include the following types of transition programs: RN residency, RN fellowship, and APRN fellowship. Residencies or fellowships that meet PTAP criteria exhibit excellence in the domains of development and design, nursing professional development, organizational enculturation, practice-based learning, program leadership, and quality outcomes.

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Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education

The Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education are designed to ensure that accredited continuing education serves the needs of patients and the public, is based on valid content, and is free from commercial influence.

The Standards were released in December 2020, replacing the Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure Independence in CME Activities.

Accredited CME providers need to comply with the Standards that are applicable to their organizations by January 1, 2022--(July 1, 2022 for Accredited ANCC Providers). Visit our Standards resources page for more information and resources. A PDF of the Standards is available here.

The Standards have been adopted by the following accrediting bodies representing multiple health professions:

• Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)
• Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
• Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry’s Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (ARBO/COPE)
• Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™

What Is Certification?

Please Note: Accreditation applies to organizations. Certification applies to individuals. Questions about continuing education (CE) requirements for nursing certification should be addressed to ANCC Certification Program at certification@ana.org or 1.800.284.2378.

Learn more at the ANCC Certification Center

Can CE Be Used for License or Certification Renewal?

Contact the appropriate licensing or certifying body. For questions about ANCC certification please visit the ANCC Certification Center or address questions to certification@ana.org or 1.800.284.2378.

What Content Is Eligible for ANCC Nursing Continuing Professional Development (NCPD) Contact Hours?

Providers must develop educational activities that address a gap in knowledge, skills, and/or practices for the professional registered nurse. Content chosen for educational activities must be evidence-based or based on the best-available evidence, and the educational activity must be planned independently from the influence of Ineligible Companies.

Continuing education may be awarded for content provided through orientation, skills training, BLS, ACLS, PALS, or similar if the content addresses a gap in knowledge, skills, and/or practices for the target audience.

Content developed by an ineligible company may NOT be used in educational activities awarding ANCC NCPD contact hours.

Logos

Ineligible Companies
Logos of an ineligible company are not permitted within or associated with the content of an educational activity with the exception of required disclosure to learners. Logos of an eligible company are permitted at the discretion of the Provider.

May Previously Developed Content Be Used?

The Nurse Planner is responsible for adhering to and complying with the ANCC NCPD Accreditation Criteria. 

The Nurse Planner and the Planning Committee must adhere to the following guidelines when incorporating previously developed content into educational activities:

1. Verify that the previously developed content meets the definition of nursing continuing professional development. 
2. Professional Practice Gap:
   - Identify previously developed educational content that validates the professional practice gap.
3. Learning Outcomes:
   - Develop learning outcomes independent of any prior outcomes or objectives for the content and/or provide evidence to support why the previously developed learning outcomes do not require modification.
4. Evidence supporting the Professional Practice Gap:
   - Provide evidence that the previously developed content is current, evidence-based, and meets current standards or practice guidelines.
5. Assessing and Analyzing for Relevant Finanical Relationships:
   - Ensure that previously developed content is permissible for use. -Ensure the previously developed content is objective and unbiased; and excludes any promotional influence.

The Nurse Planner and Planning Committee may not provide a previously developed educational activity and award continuing nursing education credit without complying with these guidelines. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in loss of accreditation status.

Updated 5/2022

How To Award Contact Hours (NCPD)

There are three ways to award ANCC contact hours (nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) ) for successful completion of nursing continuing professional development activities. An organization can:

• become an Accredited Provider of nursing continuing professional development,
• become an Approved Provider through a constituent and state nursing association, or
• seek and receive Individual Activity Approval for an educational activity from an ANCC Accredited Approver.

Note: An ineligible company is not eligible to award NCPD contact hours. To determine if your organization ineligible, pleae visit the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education.

Accredited Provider
Organizations may apply to become an Accredited Provider of nursing continuing professional development. This organizational credential enables an organization to plan and present as many educational activities as it chooses throughout the period of accreditation, domestically and internationally.

An Accredited Provider must have a currently licensed registered nurse who holds a graduate degree, and either the graduate degree or baccalaureate degree must be in nursing. Initial applicants may receive accreditation for up to two years, and re-accrediting applicants may receive accreditation for up to four years. View fee schedule. NCPD Resources available here: Writing to the ANCC NCPD Accreditation Criteria Self-Learning Guide and/orANCC NCPD Accredited Provider Applicant Journey Guide. 

Find ANCC Accredited Providers

Approved Provider
Organizations may apply to become an Approved Provider through a constituent or state nurses association (C/SNA) that is an ANCC Accredited Approver. This organizational credential enables an organization to plan and present as many educational activities as it chooses throughout the period of approval. An Approved Provider is required to have a currently licensed registered nurse who holds a baccalaureate or higher degree in nursing.

An Approved Provider must target at least 50% of its educational activities within its local geographic region (see Boundary Rule for Approved Providers under the Eligibility). Each C/SNA has its own application process and fee schedule. An approval period is no longer than 3 years.

Find ANCC Accredited Approvers 
Organizations listed as state nurses associations may approve providers.

Individual Activity Approval 
Organizations may submit individual activities to an ANCC Accredited Approver to have a specific educational activity approved for two years. Each Accredited Approver sets fees and review time. Some Accredited Approvers offer an expedited review process for a higher fee. 

Each educational activity must include a qualified nurse (Nurse Planner) in planning, implementing, and evaluating the educational activity. The qualified nurse must hold a current, valid nursing license as an RN and a baccalaureate degree or higher in nursing.

Find ANCC Accredited Approvers 
Any organization listed as an ANCC Accredited Approver can approve an individual activity.

How to Find Organizations that offer ANCC NCPD?

An organization accredited or approved to award ANCC nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) must use the appropriate ANCC accreditation statement on its materials for learners. To determine if an organization is awarding ANCC nursing continuing professional development (NCPD):

Contact the provider of the educational activity and ask if the provider is awarding ANCC contact hours.

Look for an ANCC Accreditation statement, such as:

• Company ABC is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
• Company ABC is an approved provider of nursing continuing professional development by (name of Accredited Approver) an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
• This activity has been submitted to the (name of Accredited Approver) for approval to award contact hours. The (name of Accredited Approver) is accredited an approver of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
• This nursing continuing professional development activity was approved by (name of Accredited Approver), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

Find an ANCC Accredited Organization

Boundary Rule For Approved Providers

The boundary rule applies to approved providers only, not individual activity applicants. An organization must apply to ANCC if more than 50% of its activities are marketed to nurses in multiple noncontiguous regions (based on the HHS regions), regardless of the marketing method (Internet, flyers, print advertisement, or similar).

The actual audience make up (from local or multiple regions) does not determine whether the organization must apply to ANCC. How the organization markets its activities is the determining factor. The audience make up, however, may provide evidence for the Accredited Approver in order to make an appropriate decision. The marketing method also does not determine whether an organization must apply to ANCC, but may provide additional evidence.

Example #1: An organization provides 100 activities annually and advertises them within a 5 hospital system using a web-based link on its intranet. Only nurses from the local state attend.

• Eligible to be an approved provider because the organization markets all activities to nurses within a local region.

Example #2: An organization provides 100 activities annually and advertises 60 of them through a national publication. Only nurses from the local state attend.

• Not eligible to be an approved provider because the organization is marketing greater than 50% of activities to nurses in multiple regions.

Example #3: An organization provides 100 activities annually and advertises 10 of them through a national database of CE activities. Nurses from multiple regions attend the 10 activities. Nurses from the local area attend the other 90 activities.

• Eligible to be an approved provider because the organization is marketing less than 50% of activities to nurses in multiple regions.

Example #4: An organization provides 100 activities and only advertises in a small, local nursing publication. Nurses from the local area attend.

• Eligible to be an approved provider because the organization is marketing all activities to nurses within a local region.

Example #5: An organization provides 100 activities annually and states that it advertises them only within a small, local nursing publication. Nurses from multiple regions attend.

• Requires further investigation. Nurses attending from multiple regions seem to contradict small, localized advertising

To view the HHS Regions and Boundary Map visit: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Region Map

International Organizations

Organizations outside the US may apply to become ANCC Accredited Providers and to have individual educational activities approved by an ANCC Accredited Approver.

View Benefits 
Learn How to Become Eligible
Learn How to Apply
Find Accredited Approvers
Email ANA Accreditation Program 

The ANCC's Nursing Activity Reporting System (NARS) is a web-based portal designed to streamline and support the collection of program and activity data from Accredited Providers, Accredited Approvers, and Approved Providers (Providers approved by an ANCC Accredited Approver Unit). The ANCC uses the information in NARS to evaluate/support provider accreditation criterion which is a part of the educational design process for initial accreditation, reaccreditation, and progress report reviews (refer to Policy 15 of the ANCC NCPD Accredited Provider or Approver Policy and Operations Manual in the learning communities). In addition, the ANCC will use data from NARS to produce annual reports as a service to ANCC Accredited Organizations and other stakeholders. All Providers and Approvers accredited directly by the ANCC are required to use NARS. Providers approved by a Constituent State Nursing Association (C/SNA) or Federal Nursing Service (FNS) (Approved Providers), should check with their Approver Unit for details.

Link to: Nursing Activity Reporting System (NARS)

First time users will need to use the Forgot Password Button.

For updated templates and detailed NARS Instructions, please log in to the NCPD Learning Communities and navigate to the NARS folder.

Steps to complete your ANCC NCPD Annual Report (Due April 1)

1. Enter all activities that started in the previous year and close all activities that also ended in the previous year.
2. If you provide enduring material activities, update the cumulative learner counts* as of December 31, of the previous year.
3. Review and update your contact information.
4. Accept the terms of the ANCC annual agreement.

*If you accept the terms prior to entering your activity data, you can still proceed with entering your activity data.

*Cumulative learner counts should include all learners that were awarded contact hours or OB-CE^© credit from the start date (which may be prior to the current year) to either the end date of the activity or 12/31/XX, whichever comes first.

*For example: If you had 20 learners receive contact hours for a specific enduring activity in 2023, and 20 learners receive contact hours in 2024, your cumulative learner count for annual reporting in 2024 is 40 learners.

What activity data are providers required to enter in NARS?

There are four activity statuses: Draft, Active, Ready to Close, and Closed. Below is a description of the data fields required for each activity status:

DRAFT  

• Title  
• Format  
• Start date  
• End date 

ACTIVE  

• Delivery method (if applies)  
• Location (if applies)  
• City, State, Country (if in person)  
• ANCC Contact Hours amount / *Outcome-Based CE Credit (OB-CE®) (for Accredited Providers only) if you did not use OB-CE^© this field is optional
• Providership (Direct/Joint)  
• End date not in the past  

READY TO CLOSE  

• Same fields as Active  
• End date in the past

CLOSED  

• Everything required for Ready to Close  
• If Joint Providership, at least 1 joint provider name  
• Commercial Support Yes/No  
• If Commercial Support = Yes, at least 1 support source, and for each source:  
• Monetary or In-Kind selection 
• If Monetary, support amount  
• Total RN Learner count (can enter a “0” if no learners in this category)  
• Total APRN Learner count (can enter a “0” if no learners in this category) *If you did not separate out APRN from RN, please put the total number under the RN category
• Total Other Learner count (can enter a “0” if no learners in this category)  

*The fields below are optional and are not currently required to be completed in the NARS system:

·       Description of Activity

·       Who can register for this activity

·       Is there a fee to register for this activity

·       Provider URL to view activity details

·       Outcomes

Information for re-certifying ANCC Certified Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) and Nurse Practitioners (NP), effective January 1, 2014:

1. 25 of the 75 required contact hours must be in pharmacotherapeutics.  Important note: If you double category 1, there is NO requirement to double the number of pharmacotherapeutic hours.
2. These 25 pharmacotherapeutic hours do not need to be formally ANCC accredited/approved, provided the certified nurse meets the requirements for Category 1 contact hours.  (That requirement is: at least 51% of the total number of contact hours must be in your certification role and specialty and at least 50% must be formally ANCC accredited/approved.)
3. If an educational program includes pharmacy content, please refer to equivalency tables to determine the number of pharmacotherapeutic hours that could be counted towards re-certification. Align calculation with the agenda or content (e.g. 60 minutes of a 2 hour presentation was devoted to pharmacotherapeutics = 1 contact hour).
4. The educational presentation or conference agenda may be submitted as evidence to validate the contact hour calculation. A narrative note describing pharmacology content within agenda may be necessary to validate content.
5. The same hours submitted to renew certification may be submitted to a State Board of Nursing for re-licensure.
6. Pharmacotherapeutic content does not need to be presented by a nurse for the hours to be eligible for re-certification however the presenter must have content expertise in pharmacology.

Providers:

1. If a provider is developing content to meet the ANCC pharmacotherapeutic hour requirement, content must specifically address pharmacotherapeutics.
2. Pharmacotherapeutic content does not need to be presented by a nurse for the hours to be eligible for re-certification however the presenter must have content expertise in pharmacology.
3. When developing the content for an educational activity, it is recommended that the provider delineate the number of pharmacotherapeutic contact hours.
4. Existing continuing education courses/programs that include pharmacotherapeutic content may be reviewed to calculate the appropriate number of pharmacotherapeutic contact hours.
5. When a speaker develops content for an educational activity, it would be advised that pharmacotherapeutic contact hours contained within the presentation be calculated at that time.

**Pharmacotherapeutic content may include but is not limited to drug specific information, safe prescribing practices, safe medication administration, prescribing methodologies, new regulations or similar content.

Activity file records must be maintained in a retrievable file (electronic or hard copy) accessible to authorized personnel for 6 years.