Organizations accredited by the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) will soon be able to go longer between accreditation renewals as part of a number of process changes effective January 1.  

AAHRPP extended the time period between reaccreditations from three years to five while the period between initial accreditation and reaccreditation remains at three years.  The organization also revised its reporting procedure to request more specific information about changes and catastrophic events.  In addition, AAHRPP’s Council on Accreditation may now request status reports and conduct limited site visits to organizations to verify standards-compliance efforts.

AAHRPP accredits organizations that conduct or review research with humans. The non-profit accredited six organizations at the end of 2009, bringing the total number of AAHRPP clients to 200. Forty-one organizations were accredited in 2009, down from 67 in 2008.

The list of organizations that received full accreditation in December includes: Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, Mich.; South Shore Hospital, South Weymouth, Mass.; HealthPartners Research Foundation, Minneapolis, Minn., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C., Independent Investigational Review Board, Plantation, Fla.; and Liberty IRB, DeLand, Fla.