Position Statement on Payment for Clinical Education

While the consortium recognizes that any private healthcare facility has the right, and even the obligation to decline accepting student affiliations based on their ability to provide a quality student experience, we maintain that charging fees to universities/colleges for student affiliations could potentially result in:

• Fewer educational opportunities for those students and programs with less financial resources
• A widening trend across the healthcare spectrum to charge fees, ultimately inflating the cost of education for all students
• A diminished value on the social responsibility of volunteering to promote the future of the profession

NEPTAC member programs therefore do not philosophically support payment to clinical sites for the traditional, and mutually beneficial practice of providing clinical education to students in physical therapy. In accordance with this philosophy, member programs agree to abstain whenever possible from engaging in clinical education models where payment is provided for student placements.