Applicants denied accreditation may file an appeal of the decision within 20 days of receiving written notice of the decision. Grounds for an appeal are: (1) that PCSAS’s denial was arbitrary and capricious (i.e., its underlying findings, based on the evidence of record, have no reasonable basis); or (2) that PCSAS failed to follow its governing procedures in a way that may have materially affected the outcome. All appeals must be in writing and must specify in detail the grounds for the appeal. The appeal must be submitted electronically to the Executive Director, who will forward it to the Board of Directors for consideration and action. The same appeal process applies to programs notified that their accreditation has been terminated; in case of such an appeal, the program’s accreditation status will be continued until the final decision on the appeal has been rendered. Because appeals procedures are intended to correct procedural errors, they carry no separate costs to the programs.
If a majority of the Board of Directors concludes that the appeal has no potential merit, the Board will not forward the appeal to the Review Committee for consideration and possible action, thereby ending the appeal process. The program will be notified of this decision in writing. If a majority of the Board of Directors concludes that the appeal has potential merit, the Board will forward the appeal to the Review Committee for consideration and possible action. If, based on the written appeal, three or more Review Committee members vote to reconsider the decision that is under appeal, the Review Committee will review the original application based solely on the original record. The Review Committee will report its final decision on the appeal to the Board of Directors for ratification and the program will be notified in writing. If the initial denial is upheld, there is no further appeal. (Policy Adopted by the PCSAS Board of Directors, January 27, 2012.)