FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The medical transcription program approval process was instituted by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) to encourage compliance with AHDI’s Model Curriculum for Medical Transcription, maintain sound educational programming, produce competent entry-level medical transcriptionists, and provide assurance to the public of consistency and quality outcomes for medical transcription education. Programs must comply with specific educational and institutional criteria as established by AHDI. There is no formal accreditation process for medical transcription programs.
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is the national association of health information management professionals. The Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) is the accreditation organization of AHIMA, offering specialized programmatic accreditation in health informatics and information management. Approval for Medical Transcription Programs will be granted by AHIMA’s Approval Committee for Certificate Programs (ACCP) in cooperation with AHDI, under the general supervision of CAHIIM.

To qualify for ACCP approval, a medical transcription program/school must:  

1. Have a curriculum that follows the current edition of the AHDI Model Curriculum
2. Provide a minimum of 35 hours of authentic physician dictation, with the preference being 40
3. At least one CMT involved in the process – either as a program director, curriculum developer, or instructor
4. REQUIRE the use of The AHDI Book of Style (this is the industry standard style guide)
5. Demonstrate financial stability via an auditor’s statement
6. Be accredited or licensed through a governmental body
7. Have been in existence for a minimum of 18 months and provide placement statistics of previous students