Current Site Visitors

View examples of potential conflicts of interest. If there is still question with regard to a specific relationship, please consult the Office of Accreditation.

You can accept or decline as many site visit requests as you wish. Ideally, no site visitor will participate in more then two site visits per year, but this limit is merely a suggestion and should not limit you from doing additional visits if your schedule allows.

Transportation: To schedule travel, site visitors (excluding VA visitors completing VA program site visits) are to use Deem, an online travel booking tool. Visitors may also use Deem for site visit hotel bookings. Shortly after receiving an email from the accreditation office formally confirming the site visit, first-time users will also receive an activation email from Deem@work. Visitors should retain the activation email and login information, as Deem will be used to schedule travel for every site visit. Visitors can access their Deem accounts at any time. 

While visitors are strongly encouraged to use Deem to schedule travel, they may instead contact an ATC agent by phone at (local) (703) 253-6004 or (toll-free) (800) 458-9383. Site visitors should indicate that they are booking with the American Psychological Association and provide the name and dates of the site visit they will be attending. Visitors should be prepared to provide their date of birth, gender, name as it appears on their government issued ID, phone contact on the day of travel, email address, and seat preference. ATC Travel Management business hours are M-F, 8:30 am – 7:00 pm, Eastern time. 

When booking travel with Deem or an ATC agent, airfare will be billed directly to APA. Do not obtain non-refundable supersaver fares unless you are absolutely certain that the dates for the visit are firm.  If you can save substantially on airfare by staying over at a location on a Saturday night and you wish to do so, please contact the OPCA so that we can ensure that you will be reimbursed for your hotel accommodations for that evening. If you choose to make your own flight arrangements, be sure to report travel costs on your expense report. You must receive prior approval from the accreditation office should you wish to use any other means of transportation (e.g., rental car).

Hotel: The chair of the site visit team is encouraged to ask the program to suggest a convenient and affordable hotel, and communicate this to the rest of the team. Indicate hotel costs on your expense report and submit it to the Accreditation Office for reimbursement with the paid hotel receipt (zero balance).

APA will reimburse you for an additional night if you can save substantially on airfare by staying over at a location. Please notify the Accreditation Office ahead of time so that you will be reimbursed for your hotel accommodations for that evening.

All other requests for the reimbursement of additional nights are only approved under extenuating circumstances and need to be approved by the Accreditation Office prior to the visit.

The Accreditation Office understands that hotel prices vary depending on geographic location, and tend to run very high in urban areas. While there is no set dollar amount, we ask that you seek additional suggestions from the program if the hotel cost seems particularly high for a certain area.

The schedule should be developed by the chair of the site visit team and the training director of the program at least two weeks prior to the site visit. Due to the many structural differences among programs, we do not provide a sample schedule.

Once all site visitors have accepted their roles for the site visit in the CoA Portal, the Accreditation Office will send an email confirming the visit. In addition to important program-related information, this email will include the APA Travel Office Memo and an Expense Report E-fill form. If you do not receive this confirmation six weeks prior to the site visit, please contact the Accreditation Office.

Upon receipt of this email, all site visit team members will have access to the program’s self-study in the CoA Portal. Programs are no longer responsible for providing a hardcopy version of the self-study report and, therefore, may not have a hardcopy themselves. Site visitors should not expect programs to provide the document outside of the CoA Portal (e.g. PDF, hardcopy). The self-study should be accessed and reviewed within the online system.

• The most recent version of the Standards of Accreditation and Accreditation Operating Procedures (PDF, 1.24 MB) are available on the accreditation website. Please check the upper right-hand corner of the documents to determine when they were last updated. The most recent version of the Site Visitor Manual (PDF, 3 MB) is available online.

Site visitors should structure their reports according to the appropriate Site Visit Report Preparation Sheets listed above, if they chose to draft the report outside of the CoA Portal.

The report must be submitted through the CoA Portal within 30 days following the site visit.

Once the site visit report and schedule are submitted your responsibility for the site visit is complete. Occasionally the Office of Accreditation may need to call a site visitor to clarify information provided in the site visit report.

Site visitors who go on at least two visits during a year will receive aggregate data on their ratings from the programs they visited. Such data is compiled by the Accreditation Office periodically. 

Each member of the site visit team will receive access to the program's response to their report and the Commission’s decision (see Implementing Regulation D3-3(b)) after the CoA has made a final decision on that program. Please note that this may be several months or longer after the site visit takes place. Site visitors receive these materials only in the interest of providing feedback on their performance with the intent being to improve future reports. The CoA and Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation do not expect, and will not accept, any responses regarding the contents of these materials from site visitors.

The accredited program listings are updated 30 days after each Commission meeting. You may consult this list on a periodic basis to find out whether the program has received a final decision and its accredited status has been updated. After final decisions have been publicly posted, site visit teams will have access to the program’s response to the site visit report and accreditation decision in the CoA Portal. Once you receive these materials, this indicates that the review is final and that ALL program material is to be destroyed.

Some years you may have many invitations, while other years, you may never receive a call. It is very dependent on your area of expertise and the types of programs up for review. Sometimes this is simply a matter of incorrect information in the site visitor database. The accreditation database is separate from all other APA databases, so please update your site visitor profile in the CoA Portal if your contact information and/or availability changes. If you would like to participate in more visits, please contact the Accreditation Office.

Once you have participated as the second member on three site visits, you are automatically eligible to serve as the chair of a site visit team and may appear on lists as a potential chair. Chair workshops are offered periodically to aid in the transition to site visitor chair, and provide 4.0 CE credits for licensed psychologists. Attending this workshop is encouraged, but not required, to head a site visit team. All upcoming workshops are listed on the Accreditation Workshop Page. If you would be interested in attending such a workshop, please contact the office.

If you are asked to chair a team, but do not wish to lead the visit, you are welcome to offer your services as the second member of the team. If you do not wish to appear on further "chair" lists, please contact the office. Your name will remain in the site visitor pool as a "group 2" member only.

The CoA meets three times per year (Spring/Summer/Fall). Exact dates for the Commission on Accreditation meetings are publicly announced on an annual basis and are available on the Important Dates page. The Commission reviews approximately 70 programs at each meeting for a total of about 210 programs each year.