IVAS Continuing Education Requirements

Maintaining Your IVAS Certification

In addition to renewal dues remittance, and verification of current veterinary license, CREDENTIALED members (Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist) shall maintain annual continuing education (CE) credits as approved by the International Education Committee (IEC) and published in the official publication and/or website of IVAS. By maintaining your continuing education you keep your certification active and your IVAS membership in good standing.

The CE requirement is only for CREDENTIALED members. We encourage our non-credentialed members to pursue educational opportunities; however, IVAS does not require non-credentialed members to obtain continuing education.

The current continuing education requirement for CREDENTIALED members is:

Beginning the following year you are certified, you are required to achieve ten (10) CE hours for each twenty-four month (2 year) period you are an active credentialed IVAS member. This is accomplished by submitting proof of attendance for IVAS approved CE when you submit CE credits to the IVAS office prior to or at the next dues billing cycle of the IVAS fiscal year for the purpose of keeping your certification active.

An easy way to remember when you  are due for your CE submission is:

If you were IVAS certified in an ODD numbered year (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021), you are required to obtain 10 hours of IVAS approved CE by the dues renewal of every even numbered year (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022).

If you were IVAS certified in an EVEN numbered year (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020), you are required to obtain 10 hours of IVAS approved CE by every ODD numbered year (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021).

CE Guidelines to fulfill the Standing CE Recommendation for Credentialed Members:

  1. All CE requirements are based on the IVAS member annual dues billing cycle (fiscal year) beginning July 1st.
  2. If you are behind on your CE: One does not catch up past CE hours. Simply begin now to make your certification current.
  3. If you earn extra CE hours in a given year: You cannot roll over extra hours into the next two year time period.
  4. If you have NO CE for the coming fiscal year but have paid or wish to pay for membership for the coming year: You are given a 90 day grace period to acquire the necessary CE hours to keep your certification current.  Beyond that time frame your certification will become inactive until you provide IVAS with proof of attendance at an IVAS approved event.

Obtain CE Approval or Rejection for a CE Event

To verify if a course, workshop, or seminar has already been approved, please check the US, International or Online CE Events Pages on this site. If you have any questions regarding any of the CE listings please contact us at +1-970-266-0666 or at [email protected].

If a course, workshop, or seminar you are searching has NOT been previously submitted to IVAS for approval, please contact IVAS with the following information for submittal to our CE Committee:

  • Obtain the daily schedule breakdown containing the following: hours of lectures, lecture titles, and lecturers.
  • Fax, email, or mail the schedule to IVAS as much in advance of the course, workshop, or seminar as possible for IVAS CE approval or rejection.

IVAS will forward the information to the Continuing Education Committee Chair, Kristin Edwards VMD. We anticipate having a response within two weeks from the time we receive the information. Feel free to contact us if you haven’t heard from us after two weeks.

NOTE: The IVAS CE Director only approves CE for those portions of the workshops, seminars, or course/s that directly relate to acupuncture and herbs.  Therefore, the number of CE hours assigned by the teaching sponsor may vary from those assigned by the IVAS CE Director.

Report Your CE to IVAS Office Upon Completion of the Workshop, Seminar, Course(s)

You are asked to report your CE activity at the same time you remit your dues renewal. For AAVA and AVAC, you may submit a copy to AAVA and AVAC and these affiliates will transmit the information to IVAS with your dues renewal. Or, we welcome your direct submission to us by emailing, faxing or mailing a copy of the event’s completion certificate or other proof of attendance to the IVAS office. PLEASE DO NOT MAIL THE ORIGINAL TO IVAS OFFICE.

The Sponsor of course/workshop/seminar is required to submit the following to IVAS. Please verify with the sponsor they are doing so.

  1. Submit a daily schedule of the event showing the hours of lectures, lecture titles, and lecturer(s).
  2. Submit copies of the daily sign-in sheet to the IVAS office.
  3. Provide each attendee with a certificate or letter of proof of attendance.

NOTE: If the sponsor fails to supply you with proof of attendance, you should request proof from the sponsor. This double declaration of your CE credit hours will help insure that your CE credit hours are recorded with the IVAS office to keep your certification current.

We are unable to accept a program schedule or listing as CE verification. We are also unable to accept your written affidavit stating you attended the event. We must have a copy of the attendance sheet or completion certificate.

Locate CE Opportunities

  1. Review the IVAS Newsletter for future pre-approved courses/workshops/seminars.
  2. Visit our web site https://www.ivas.org for pre-approved courses/workshops/seminars.
  3. If you find other acupuncture and herb related courses, workshop, seminars NOT listed in the IVAS newsletter, or website, then contact the IVAS office to see if they have been added.  If not, request the sponsor of the event submit a daily schedule as listed above under ‘Verify CE Approval or Rejection’.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding CE hours, your CE status, or CE course approval, please feel free to contact the IVAS Continuing Education Services through the IVAS office.

Thank you for maintaining your IVAS Certification.