The Professionalization of Home Aides/ Assistants:

The Role of Credentialing

Presentation for State HRSA AwardeesJune 13, 2011

What is Knapp?

Established in 1989 Consultancy devoted exclusively to serving the

professional and occupational certification industry Consultants include management experts,

psychometricians and test development specialists, each with at least 15 years experience in the certification industry

Knapp consultants have been selected to serve as auditors for national and international certification accreditation programs

Industries/Professions served

K&AI has worked with over 100 organizations, agencies and corporations in the fields of:

Retail ConstructionFinancial services TravelBusiness management Utilities

Information technologyScientific and technicalMedicine and healthcare Culinary arts and foodservice

Some Knapp clients

American Board of Pain Medicine American College of Healthcare Executives American Nurses Credentialing Center American Pharmacists Association American Red Cross Associated General Contractors of America Institute for Supply Management National Cancer Registrars Association National Retail Federation

What we will be discussing

Credentialing concepts and how certification relates to these concepts

Standards and accreditation and their importance to your work

Quality benchmarks for assessments Options for developing and delivering

assessments

Checklist

How many of you: Have courses in places?Have a written assessment?Have a performance assessment?Have a certification?Have a program evaluation plan?

What are the HRSA certification and assessment requirements?

To develop and implement written materials and protocols for core training competencies to include the development of certification tests for individuals completing these competencies

The tests must include written and skills demonstration components

What is credentialing?

LicensureCertifications CertificatesAccreditationDiplomas/Degrees

What is credentialing?

Licensure is the mandatory process by which a governmental agency grants time-limited permission to an individual to engage in a given occupation after verifying that he/she has met predetermined and standardized criteria, and offers title protection for those who meet the criteria. (The NOCA Guide to Understanding Credentialing Concepts)

What is credentialing? Certification is the voluntary process by which a non-

governmental entity grants a time-limited recognition and use of a credential to an individual after verifying that he or she has met predetermined and standardized criteria. It is the vehicle that a profession or occupation uses to differentiate among its members, using standards, sometimes developed through a consensus driven process, based on existing legal and psychometric requirements.

The holder of a professional certification has a designation and is called a certificant. (The NOCA Guide to Understanding Credentialing Concepts)

What is credentialing?

Certification means a process by which an agency or organization validates, based on predetermined standards, an individual’s qualifications and knowledge for practice in a defined functional or clinical area.

(HRSA Funding Opportunity and Announcement June 2010)

What is credentialing? An assessment-based certificate is issued after an individual

completes a course or series of courses and passes an assessment instrument. The content of the assessment is limited to the course content and therefore may not be completely representative of professional practice (and therefore it is not as defensible to use this or the certificate program described below for regulatory purposes as compared to a professional certification).

(The NOCA Guide to Understanding Credentialing Concepts)

What is credentialing? A certificate program is a training program on a

topic for which participants receive a certificate after attendance and/or completion of the coursework. Similar to CE credits.

One who completes a certificate program receives a certificate of attendance and is known as a certificate holder. A credential is NOT granted at the completion of a certificate program. (The NOCA Guide to Understanding Credentialing Concepts)

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What is a standard?

Document established by consensus and approved by recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results aimed at achieving the optimum degree of order…” (ISO/IEC Guide 2)

Sometimes called criteria, best practices, quality benchmarks

Who recognizes standards?

Regulators and Third Party PayersPublic protection and assurance of quality

Consumers Credibility, confidence, protection, assurance Professions

Service to profession and industry, promotes status and credibility, resolves scope of work issues

What standards ensure credential quality?

Broad National and International Standards

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

National Commission for Certification Agencies (NCCA)

What standards ensure credential quality?

Standards for Specific Professions American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) Council of Engineering and Scientific Boards (CESB)

Other Association of Test Publishers Joint Technical Standards of the American Psychological

Association and the National Council for Measurement in Education

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What is accreditation?

A voluntary process by which a nongovernmental agency grants a time-limited recognition to an institution, organization, business, program or other entity after it has met predetermined and standardized criteria

(The NOCA Guide to Understanding Credentialing Concepts)

Why is accreditation important?

Regulators, Federal, State and Local, as well as third party payers, increasingly require that credentials meet standards and are accredited

Differentiates program from those that are similar but not of the same quality

Increases accountability to stakeholders Provides process for continuous improvement

What are the technical benchmarks for quality credentials?

Validation of content - Why is content important and how is it related to competence on the job?

Development of assessment specifications - How should we measure what was learned?

Documentation of linkage of assessment(s) to learning objectives - What are the critical learning objectives to be measured?

Assessment built and scored by experts - What are the qualifications of the experts; how have they contributed to the process?

What are the technical benchmarks for quality credentials?

Reliability of assessment – Over time, can we count on the accuracy and consistency of the scores?

Passing score set according to standards - Is the passing score fair and legally defensible?

Acceptable delivery methods - Is the delivery of the assessments secure and standardized? Are the tests delivered in the proper environment with guidelines that ensure security, fairness, reliability?

What are costs and timeline for developing quality programs? Validation process for written-$25-35,000, 6 months Creation of a curriculum and courses-???? Test development for a written test, passing score study-$35-

40,000, 8-9 months Validation process for performance test- $25-35,000, 6 months Test development for a performance test-$50 -100,000

depending on the number of skills and tasks being assessed, 9-12 months

Scoring of performance test-$15-30,000--

Program development options

Options Pros Cons Develop own program Ensures quality and validity

of the assessment; may be viable option if state resources are available

Expensive, requires technical expertise; longer timeline

License existing material Some control over the process if delivering the assessment; shortens development time, less expensive than the first option

Would have to set up and run test registration, administration, scoring process

Outsource entire assessment process

Headache free; reduces liability on the part of the agency

Could be expensive;May not be in alignment with training and certification specifications

Hybrid-Combination of options

Flexible Requires strong project management competencies; could be the most effective.

How can the State HRSA projects ensure quality services to public?

Standardize training across the state for skills and knowledge needed to perform competently

Use reliable and valid measures of mastery of knowledge needed to perform competently

Make certain that the credential can meet technical standards

How can the States and their HRSA projects ensure quality services to public?

Use the most cost effective means of credentialing...for employers, employees and regulating agencies

Build a program that is sustainable and have a business case as its foundation

Market program to employers, employees, consumers Be vigilant in your concern about liability, vulnerability,

consistency, comparability and most of all, fairness to potential certificants

Remember …

Stakeholders want credentials that are credible, relevant and ensure public protection.

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