Overview of Qualifications and Compliance Review

1. As a national credentialing agency, NBCOT is responsible for upholding its certification standards with the ultimate goal of serving the public interest. The seven principles set forth in the Code of Conduct that an examination candidate or certificant agrees to uphold are specific to the practice of occupational therapy.
2. NBCOT periodically conducts extensive and in-depth reviews of its Qualifications and Compliance Review program. These in-depth review processes are initiated to assess the effectiveness of NBCOT's current policy and procedures in supporting the organization's mission of serving the public interest.
3. NBCOT's Qualifications and Compliance Review program serves the public interest by helping to ensure that an OTR® or COTA® practitioner, certification examination candidate, or individual who has applied for the occupational therapy eligibility determination review (OTED) to determine eligibility to take the OTR certification examination abide by the Principles identified in the Candidate/Certificant Code of Conduct. The program is not intended to be punitive; it is also rehabilitative, providing incentive to present and future certificants to adhere to the behaviors outlined in the Candidate/Certificant Code of Conduct.
4. NBCOT® exercises its responsibility to protect the public from an OTR or COTA practitioner, or an examination candidate who is in violation of the Candidate/Certificant Code of Conduct. The vast majority of OTR and COTA practitioners are ethical and competent. The Qualifications and Compliance Review Program makes it possible to identify, discipline, and require improvements from the few practitioners who are not. The Procedures for Enforcement are intended to enable NBCOT, through its Qualifications and Compliance Review Committee (QCRC), to act fairly in the performance of its responsibilities to the public as a certifying agency, and to ensure that the rights of candidates and certificants are protected.
5. NBCOT's actions are independent of those taken by state regulatory agencies or the American Occupational Therapy Association's Ethics Commission. However, when NBCOT receives a complaint against an individual in a regulated state, it notifies that state about the complaint and any final decisions rendered in the case. In addition, when a state regulatory entity is actively considering a complaint, NBCOT's Qualifications and Compliance Review Committee will stay or hold off taking any action until the state entity acts on the case.