Recently, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) released its Report of Proceedings outlining the accreditation actions that were taken at the July 29-August 1 ACPE Board of Directors Meeting. A quick review of the Report shows that the only school in the country that was denied their accreditation status for their pharmacy school was Hampton University School of Pharmacy.
ACPE Withdraws Hampton’s Accreditation
Hampton had been on probation since July 2017 for not entirely meeting some Standards in the ACPE Accreditation Standards and Key Elements for the Professional Program in Pharmacy Leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy Degree. It wasn’t until this year, however, that accreditation was entirely revoked.
In withdrawing accreditation, ACPE cited Standard 17, which is Progression, and requires the school to develop, implement, and assess its policies and procedures related to student progression through the PharmD program. ACPE also cited Hampton as being partially compliant with Standard 24, Assessment Elements for Section I: Educational Outcomes.
Standard 17
Standard 17 has two different prongs: progression policies and early intervention. With respect to progression policies, the school is supposed to create (and make available to current and prospective students) and abide by criteria, policies, and procedures related to: academic progression, remediation, missed course work or credit, academic probation, academic dismissal, dismissal for reasons of misconduct, readmission, leaves of absence, rights to due process, and appeal mechanisms (including grade appeals).
With respect to the early intervention prong, the school is to have a system to monitor student performance that allows for early detection of academic and behavioral issues. The school should also develop and implement appropriate interventions that have the potential for successful resolution of the issues.
Standard 24
Standard 24 includes four key elements that involve the school’s plan to assess student’s achievements of educational outcomes to ensure graduates are prepared to enter practice.
The first element is a formative and summative assessment, meaning the assessment plan incorporates systematic, valid, and reliable knowledge-based and performance-based formative and summative assessments. The second element is standardized and comparative assessments, meaning the assessment plan includes standardized assessments as required by the ACPE that allow for national comparisons and school-determined peer comparisons.
The third element deals with student achievement and readiness and measures student achievement at defined levels of the professional competencies. In addition to school desired assessments, the plan includes an assessment of student readiness to enter advanced pharmacy practice experiences, provide direct patient care in a variety of healthcare settings, and contribute as a member of a collaborative patient team.
The final element touches upon continuous improvement and requires that the school use the analysis of assessment measures to improve student learning and the level of achievement of the Educational Outcomes.
Hampton to Complete Teach-Out Plan
According to the report, Hampton’s program is expected to implement the Teach-Out Plan that covers Classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023. This means that students who are currently enrolled will be allowed to graduate and take the licensure examination with no adverse effect.
Hampton Files Suit
In response to the removal of accreditation status, Hampton University filed a federal civil lawsuit against ACPE alleging that the decision to take away its accreditation is “bizarrely contradictory and Kafkaesque bureaucratic process rife with bias and revenge.”
According to the school, it has tried numerous times to resolve the accreditation issues with ACPE, but ACPE has not been receptive, nor has the organization been receptive to changing the accreditation status once any improvements were made.
According to a February 2018 statement made by Anand Iyer, PhD, MBA, Professor and Dean of Hampton University School of Pharmacy, Hampton created a “comprehensive plan” designed to meet the educational needs of students and ensure their success on the NAPLEX licensure examination.
In the complaint, Hampton University says, “If ACPE’s arbitrary action is not reversed, then the accrediting agency will have unilaterally terminated an extremely important community-oriented pharmacy program at one of the nation’s premier Historically Black Colleges and Universities during a pandemic that has disproportionately impacted those communities which HUSOP [Hampton University School of Pharmacy] serves.”
The school is seeking nullification of the accreditation withdrawal, in addition to compensatory and punitive damages.
Commentary
Hampton University – one of the nation’s historical black colleges – was the only school in the country to have their accreditation status revoked. The revocation was primary because they were not advancing enough students into PharmD programs. However, given the economic status of most students in the Hampton area, this would make sense.
The ACPE should consider how to work with Hampton going forward to remedy the deficiencies they found in the program, as there is a huge shortage of pharmacists in underserved areas and Hampton was filling those gaps. With a clear need to help resolve racial disparities in healthcare, shutting down educational venues for African Americans should be avoided when possible.
We implore the ACPE to reconsider and elected officials to review the ACPE processes to ensure that students in underserved areas are not denied educational opportunities afforded them.