STC Instructor Pinged for MAERB Role

Southeast Technical College’s Medical Assistant Instructor Jo Penning has been chosen to serve a two-year term as a member of the Medical Assisting Education Review Board (MAERB). Her term will begin January 2022.

“It is such an honor to serve on this board,” Penning said.

MAERB is a Committee on Accreditation (CoA) under the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), which accredits Southeast Tech’s Medical Assisting program. MAERB makes accreditation recommendations for medical assisting programs. 

Penning was asked to apply and went through an interview processes before being chosen for this role.

“Being a part of this process is going to be not only engaging work, but beneficial to the Medical Assistant program here at Southeast Tech as well,” Penning continued.

One of the prerequisites to sitting on the board is to serve as a surveyor for MAERB, which entails visiting medical assisting programs to ensure they are in compliance.

“I started surveying about three years ago to make sure that when our program is under review, everything would be in order,” she said.

As a board member, some of Penning’s duties will include:

• Reviewing program compliance and achievement of outcome thresholds
• Regularly reviewing standards for medical assisting education accreditation
• Conducting accreditation workshops for medical assisting educators
• Conducting workshops for MAERB/CAAHEP surveyors to promote consistent review of programs
• Providing medical assisting educators with current information about CAAHEP and MAERB policies and practices for accreditation

MAERB members are educators from both public and private institutions, administrators from institutions with accredited medical assisting programs, practicing medical assistants, members of the public, and physicians.