9 First Steps to Becoming a CE Provider
First things first, why do you want to be a CE Provider? The simplest answer to that question is usually the best answer. Maybe you want to make more money, maybe you want to attract a different clientele, maybe you believe your content would help professionals improve their practice, whatever the reason a prepared approach is the best approach. Below are some general steps that will lead you down the path to becoming a CE Provider.
1. Identify Your Target Market.
Will you primarily focus on one profession, say nursing? Or will you focus more on the healthcare team? Do you intend to focus on a specialty practice or a general audience? A good place to start is to ask what professionals are represented in your current classes. Do you have nurses, social workers, pharmacists or physical therapists?
2. Identify Your Geographic Market.
Is it a local or regional effort you are interested in? How about a national focus? Each career field has a separate board, either at the national or state level. If you are applying to multiple professional boards, start with one group and find the proper approval authority. Find out if it is a national or state board. In some cases, the answer might be both. If so, start at the state level. In my experience, state boards typically require less documentation and are easier to apply to.
3. Investigate the Requirements
There are many national and state boards that required their licensed or certified professionals to obtain continuing education hours. Most healthcare professionals need CE hours as a condition to renew their license. Here’s the rub, each state and certification will have different rules and regulations for approval in providing CE. Although most of the information regarding the boards can be found online, there is no one place that you can go to get information about all of the boards. Start with one. The others will be easier to tackle once you have one under your belt.
4. Determine The Educational Modalities You Wish To Use.
Will you focus more on live courses or will it be self-study courses. Live courses can be conferences, lectures, classes, live webinar or broadcast, etc. and will have direct, immediate feedback from an instructor or faculty member. A self-study program can be an online course, a mail-order activity, a pre-recorded broadcast, a video, a journal article, etc. and usually includes a post-test that will measure competency of the material presented.
5. Determine How You Will Develop Course Content.
Content must be current and relevant to the professional’s scope of practice, including evidence-based research that reflects best practice recommendations. That being said, please develop content that is also engaging. Your course participants will thank you.
6. Establish Criteria For Successful Completion And Assessment Of The Participant’s Learning.
Will you use, attendance sheets, post-tests, skills demonstrations, self-evaluations?
7. Determine How You Will Evaluate Your Overall Effectiveness
In addition to generating course evaluations to be completed by the participants at the end of the learning, how will you use this data to improve future courses? Most boards provide an example. If you model your evaluations after theirs they are likely to be accepted.
8. Develop A Certificate Of Completion
Develop a certificate of completion that includes participants name and license number if applicable, date of completion, name of activity, accreditation and approval statements/numbers, and the number of CE hours earned.
9. After Approval: What Now?
After approval you will need to consider how you are going to market your classes. Seek advice from colleagues and students to determine the best place to advertise. Collect all evaluations and aggregate them to determine what you are doing right and where are your opportunities for growth. Distribute certificates to participants who have successfully completed the CE activity. Prepare and send course completion reports to all required agencies. Mark your calendar so that you have time to renew your applications before they expire.
Becoming a CE Provider can seem like a daunting task, but with a little prep work ahead of time the process will go a lot smoother. There are many benefits to becoming a CE provider so do not get bogged down with the initial requirements. Your course participation will most likely increase when you are approved to give CE hours. Approval from a national or state board gives you and your courses added credibility and added marketability. In addition, your circle of influence will increase and you will have more opportunities to work with influential instructors and faculty. Just remember to start small and build big and always read the instructions. A little time and hard work now will definitely pay off later.
Tidbits from a former provider
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