The Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE) received two commendations during the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) on-site inspection Feb. 16 and Feb. 17. The AOA inspection — which takes place periodically — was required to reaccredit the CORE as an AOA-approved Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institution (OPTI). An OPTI is a community-based training consortium made up of at least one college of osteopathic medicine and one hospital. Other hospitals and health-care facilities may also partner within the consortium. There are currently 13 teaching hospitals that are members of CORE.

AOA inspectors commended the CORE system for its three-year Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine curriculum and for the research initiatives it has undertaken in the past three years.

“These two commendations are important,” says Keith Watson, D.O., OPTI chief academic officer for the CORE. “And these two commendations were really nice to hear from the inspection team. It was a spotless inspection.”

Dean Jack Brose, D.O., agreed with Watson adding, “I am extremely pleased with results of the OPTI accreditation visit and was very proud of the CORE team who prepared for this inspection. The commendations were especially gratifying since they were in areas that were not considered to be strengths of the CORE in the past.”

“The CORE system held up extremely well to the scrutiny of the inspection team relative to the standards,” says Cheryl Riley, assistant dean for academic affairs and CORE operations. “We met all but one minor standard — regarding conflict of interests — that can be easily corrected virtually with the stroke of a pen.”

Although CORE has a conflict of interest statement in its bylaws, which is part of the annual agreement with its hospital and college partners, it was recommended that there be a separate conflict of interest statement signed by each voting member. This is to be instituted during the 2006-07 contract cycle.

Following the two day on-site survey, the inspection team had an exit conference with the CORE Academic Steering Committee (CASC) to let members in attendance know their findings and recommendations. The inspection team met with the CASC membership in Columbus and Brose in attendance via video conference.

The report was then forwarded to Watson for comment before the inspection team submits its final report to the AOA for review. Riley says that the entire accreditation process takes approximately six months and expects to receive official notification regarding OPTI continuing accreditation status, hopefully for the maximum five-year period, no later than September 2006.

Riley says the CORE system will use what it has learned from the self study and the on-site survey to continue making improvements.

“We approached the inspection process as a way to identify for ourselves and learn from the inspectors what areas need attention,” Riley says, adding she and other personnel will review AOA-recommended standards and ensure the CORE system addresses them in an ongoing manner, so when the next inspection comes, CORE will be just as ready.

The CORE system has undergone three inspections since the medical education consortium’s inception in 1997. The first took place in 1998, after the AOA Board of Trustees passed regulations and developed standards to accredit OPTIs in 1995. CORE was inspected again in May 2002, receiving continuing accreditation in 2003.

“The CORE was the first accredited OPTI and is considered by many in our profession to be the gold standard by which other OPTIs are judged,” Brose says. “That reputation has been reinforced by this accreditation visit.”