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Council on Optometric Practitioner Education

Obtaining COPE Accreditation for Your Activity/Event

COPE Activity/Event Accreditation is a three-step process.

COPE — Council on Optometric Practitioner Education

The Three-Step Process

COPE Activity/Event Accreditation is a three-step process:

  1. The courses must be submitted through the COPE Review Process for qualification.
  2. The organization must submit specific activity/event information to COPE prior to the activity/event taking place.
  3. Additional information must be submitted to COPE after completion of the activity/event.

Important

Courses are not considered COPE-Accredited until the COPE Activity/Event has been submitted to COPE and the COPE Administrator has received notification that it was approved. Your attendees will not be given COPE CE credit unless your activity/event has been approved.

How the Approval Process Works

Here’s how the COPE Activity/Event approval process works:

Become a COPE Administrator

Your organization must become a COPE Administrator. For more information, see the administrator qualification page.

Submit pre-activity information

Once approved, you can login to your COPE Administrator account and submit the pre-activity information with the list of courses that will be presented at the activity/event. (You should submit your pre-activity information at least two weeks prior to your scheduled activity/event.) See sample pre-activity accreditation form.

Confirmation email

Once your COPE pre-activity submission has been received, you will be sent an email confirming your submission.

Compliance review

Your pre-activity data will be reviewed for compliance with COPE’s accreditation criteria and Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education.

Approval notification

You will be sent an email notification when your activity/event is approved. The courses that were COPE qualified are now considered COPE-Accredited Courses and can be promoted as such. Your activity/event and list of courses will be posted on the ARBO website.

Submit post-activity information

You will need to complete the accreditation process by submitting the post-activity information and supporting documents within 30 days of completion of the activity/event. See sample post-activity accreditation form.

Please Note

  • All courses which will be held at your activity/event must be COPE-Qualified prior to submitting the activity/event. Please keep in mind that it takes approximately 4-6 weeks for a course to go through the COPE qualification process.
  • Each COPE-Qualified Course has a unique COPE Course ID number. Your COPE-Approved Activity/Event will also be assigned a COPE Activity ID number. You must include these COPE ID numbers in all correspondence to ARBO and on CE attendance certificates.