NCCHWC and NBME to Collaborate on a

National Certification Examination for Health & Wellness Coaches

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Contact:  Leigh-Ann Webster leighann@ncchwc.org 866-535-7929

NBME Contact: Susan Deitch sdeitch@nbme.org 215-590-9218

(SAN DIEGO and PHILADELPHIA---May 24, 2016) -- The National Consortium for Credentialing of Health & Wellness Coaches (NCCHWC) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) have signed an agreement for the launch of a national certification for individual health and wellness coaches in the US. The application period for the first certification examination is expected to open in early 2017.

The agreement is a major landmark in the ongoing efforts of NCCHWC to establish a national certification that grounds both professional practice and education standards in the field of health and wellness coaching.  NCCHWC, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization formed in 2012 after 3 years of preliminary work, assembled a volunteer team of experienced educators and leaders to unify inter-professional perspectives, and follow best practices to identify national standards. Key milestones in this process included a national stakeholder summit, a Job Task Analysis, and a national validation survey to clarify the tasks performed, as well as the minimum requisite skills and knowledge needed for effective practice.

A seminal co-founder of the NCCHWC, Karen Lawson, MD, identified this agreement as a "pivotal event in the evolution of health and wellness coaching. We appreciate the assessment expertise, psychometric rigor, testing implementation, and professional credibility offered by the National Board of Medical Examiners."

The intent of the long-term strategic relationship is to build the emerging profession of health and wellness coaches and to finance, develop, implement and further promote high standards of training, education, research, and credentialing for the health and wellness coaching profession. Both organizations envision a professional community that is dedicated to high quality and continuous improvement and an advocate for the development and certification of high-quality coaching skills across healthcare, academia, and industry.

Responsible for assessing physicians' readiness to practice medicine for 100 years, NBME identified the certification of health and wellness coaches as a vital priority in addressing the national crisis in unhealthy lifestyles. NBME advisor David Eisenberg, MD, played matchmaker in bringing NCCWHC and NBME together in spring 2015.

"It became clear that our field would make a giant leap forward by combining NBME's first class expertise and innovation in assessing the knowledge and skills of health professionals, and the six-year volunteer accomplishments of NCCHWC in uniting the field around common standards," notes Margaret Moore, MBA, another seminal NCCHWC co-founder, who led the negotiations on behalf of NCCHWC.

Notes Donald Melnick, MD, President of NBME, "NBME has long recognized the need to protect the health of the public through state of the art assessment of health professionals. Moving the spectrum beyond physicians to include health and wellness coaches dedicated to helping the public with lifestyle improvement is part of our long-term vision."         

Backgrounder - NCCHWC

Founded in 2010 by 14 industry thought leaders, the NCCHWC supports the development and recognition of professional health and wellness coaches, the integration of basic coaching skills into the practices of existing health professions, and intends to advance a collaborative research agenda with the compilation of evidence on best practices across the field of health and wellness coaching.

Backgrounder – NBME

Founded in 1915, the NBME is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides high-quality assessments for the health professions. Protection of the health of the public through state of the art assessment is the mission of the NBME, along with a major commitment to research and development in evaluation and measurement.

For more information, visit www.ncchwc.org. 

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