Access COCA standards for continuing COMs and for new and developing COMs, as well as the substantive change policies and procedures.
On Sept. 26, 2023, the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) approved the 2023 accreditation standards for continuing COMs and new and developing COMs, including the evidentiary submissions that accompany those standards. The revised standards are effective Sept. 26, 2023.
All COMs with continuing accreditation must comply with the 2023 accreditation standards beginning July 1, 2024, although COMs with continuing accreditation may voluntarily begin to comply with the revised 2023 accreditation standards beginning Sept. 26, 2023, if their current circumstances permit.
New and developing COMs whose applications are for either candidate status or pre-accreditation status must complete their current phase of the respective application processes under the 2019 standards. Once that phase of the development process is achieved (after Sept. 26, 2023), a new and developing COM must comply with the 2023 revised standards for the next phase of the accreditation process.
All COMs and new and developing COMs are expected to comply with the 2023 revised accreditation standards by July 1, 2024.
Disclaimer: The Standards of Accreditation document is edited and revised periodically by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA), and is, therefore, subject to change without notice. Inquiries concerning changes to the document and requests for the current version of the document should be sent to the Department of Accreditation via email to predoc@osteopathic.org. By requesting this document, the user acknowledges that he/she has reviewed this disclaimer and understands its terms.
These newly formatted documents include both a bookmarked table of contents, as well as a linked table of contents within the PDF document for easier use.
Please note that the evidentiary submissions documents for continuing COMs and for new and developing COMs have been incorporated into the respective Standards documents, and the evidentiary submission document for substantive procedures has been incorporated as an appendix into the Substantive Change Policies and Procedures document. Samples of the tables referenced in the evidentiary submissions are provided below. Spreadsheets for entering the requested data will be provided through the COCA-online platform when an application/report is initiated.
You can access the 2017 COCA Standards below:
Page last updated: Feb. 2024