Quinnipiac University’s nationally ranked physician assistant program will be on probation through at least September 2025 after its accreditation review revealed several areas of noncompliance with the accrediting body’s standards.

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant — the national body responsible for accrediting PA schools — determined following a three-year reaccreditation review that Quinnipiac’s PA program did not properly comply with nearly one-quarter of its 102 standards.

At the ARC-PA’s meeting in September, the body downgraded the Quinnipiac PA program’s continued accreditation status to accreditation-probation for a two-year period.

“Our program remains accredited,” said Janelle Chiasera, dean of the School of Health Sciences. “This temporary status allows us time to make program improvements, and to make sure that we are doing things in alignment with what the ARC-PA expects us to do.”

Accreditation, per an FAQ published on Quinnipiac’s website in the wake of the decision, is a “voluntary process academic programs engage in to assure they are offering high quality education as defined by the standards set forth by the accrediting body.”

The ARC-PA first accredited Quinnipiac’s PA program — which is currently ranked No. 1 in Connecticut and No. 16 in the nation — in 1995.

“This is a strong and impressive program, and it remains that way,” Chiasera said.

Although PA programs submit regular self-reports to the body, accredited programs must undergo comprehensive evaluations every 10 years to maintain their accreditation statuses. Quinnipiac’s September 2023 review was its first since 2013.

“The standards that we had 10 years ago are different from the standards that we have today,” Chiasera said.

Chiasera said the ARC-PA’s most recent evaluation of the university’s PA program detailed 25 areas of noncompliance pertaining to faculty sufficiency, instructor certification, clinical practice learning outcomes and self-reporting.

“This temporary accreditation status is not going to affect the ability of our students to complete the program,” Chiasera said. “It does not mean that our students are receiving any less quality education than we’ve ever delivered.”

Chiasera said Quinnipiac officials have already addressed approximately 75% of the ARC-PA’s citations, particularly those concerning faculty sufficiency.

“The program has experienced turnover over the last four years, and that included the three-year reporting period for ARC-PA,” Chiasera said. “I am happy to say at this point that all of those positions have been filled.”

Chiasera emphasized that university officials plan to continue monitoring “what the program needs are from a faculty perspective and a support perspective.”

“We are still planning on getting them more faculty even though we have filled our vacancies,” she said. “We are committed to making sure that they have the faculty there that they need.”

To address citations pertaining to the program’s self-reporting process, for instance, Chiasera said officials hope to hire a full-time staff member “to help with the nuances of assessment.”

“I’ll be honest, I would argue that our PA program is quite sophisticated in what they do when they look at assessment and outcomes,” she said. “We realize that in order for us to advance the program’s analysis process, we really need a dedicated person to work with the program on a full-time basis.”

This is not the first time in recent years the university’s PA program has come under fire. In March 2022, a former PA student filed a lawsuit accusing program faculty of discrimination.

Accreditors will assess the program’s progress in September 2025.

“This time, they said, ‘We’re going to see in two years, we’d like you to make progress on this,’” Chiasera said. “We are committed to making those changes and we’re really confident that we are going to meet what the ARC-PA needs.”

Chiasera said program officials have begun outlining timelines for addressing the remaining citations.

Come 2025, the ARC-PA will do one of three things: reinstate the Quinnipiac PA program’s full accreditation, extend its accreditation-probation by two years or suspend its accreditation altogether.

“Is there the potential that we could get to a point where the ARC-PA says, ‘You didn’t meet it’?” Chiasera said. “We could, but we are not going to let that happen.”

The Chronicle was unable to independently verify the contents of the ARC-PA’s report, which had not been released online as of publication.