The Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs is the largest accrediting association for health care programs in the United States. Fitting under its umbrella of excellence, are over 2000 health education programs. CAAHEP is a recognized accrediting agency by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the largest programmatic accreditor in the health sciences field.

Up until about ten years ago the American Medical Association took the job of accrediting allied health schools, but in 1994 the Commission on Accreditation of Allied health Education Programs was created to take over the job. Since, the CAAHEP has been responsible for accrediting health care training programs for 22 different professions.

The accreditation process for a CAAHEP programs is a rigorous one. Each program is required to report out on its status and then go through a series of on-site and off-site evaluations by members of the commission. The board of directors are the ones who make the final call as to whether or not a schools becomes accredited.