New Healthcare Program Development & Substantive Change Management

New Healthcare Program Development & Substantive Change Management

A decision to add a new nursing program, a dental hygiene program, a radiography program, or any other healthcare credential program at a postsecondary institution initiates a regulatory process that can take 18 months to several years from initial planning to first enrollment. That process involves notification to or approval from the institutional accreditor, application to the relevant programmatic accreditor, approval from the state authorization body, and in many cases separate approval from the state professional licensing board that governs the profession.

Each of these approvals has its own application requirements, its own review timeline, and its own standards that must be demonstrated before approval is granted. And they must be completed in the right sequence — because some approvals require others to be in place first. Organizations that do not map the full regulatory pathway before beginning curriculum development and faculty recruitment routinely find themselves in situations where they have invested significantly in a program that cannot be offered because a required approval has not been secured.

Service Areas

• Institutional Accreditor Substantive Change Approval — Management of substantive change processes required by institutional accreditors (e.g., ABHES, ACCSC), including notifications and approvals for new programs, campuses, or credential levels, ensuring compliance with required timelines before program implementation.

• State Authorization Substantive Change — Coordination and submission of required notifications and applications to state authorization agencies (e.g., BPPE and equivalents), covering new programs, locations, delivery formats, and program structural changes requiring state-level approval prior to operation.

• Programmatic Accreditation Application — End-to-end management of programmatic accreditation processes, including eligibility assessment, candidacy applications, curriculum alignment, self-study preparation, and coordination of initial site visits for programs requiring specialized accreditation.

• State Professional Licensing Board Approval — Preparation and submission of program approval applications to state professional licensing boards, including documentation management, compliance alignment, and coordination of inspection or review processes required for licensure pathway approval.

• New Program Feasibility Assessment — Comprehensive pre-development evaluation of proposed programs, including labor market demand analysis, competitive landscape review, regulatory pathway mapping and timelines, financial viability projections, clinical site availability (where applicable), and faculty qualification and staffing feasibility.