About SAS

CMMOTA is excited to announce the launch of the first Canadian School Approval System (SAS) for Manual Osteopathic Therapy (MOT) educational programs! Based out of the WHO benchmarks the main objective of the SAS is to safeguard the publics’ health and wellbeing by assuring Canadian MOT schools are graduating as safe, ethical, efficient and professional manual osteopathic practitioners.

During the past 20 years manual osteopathic therapy in Canada has been expanding at an accelerated pace, especially over the last 5 years in the western provinces. While Ministries Of Education recognize the educational programs, there is not an organization focused on Canadian MOT schools curriculum standards and clinical experiences during their education… until now.

The CMMOTA SAS Team is a group of like-minded and passionate individuals with a common mission and vision for the future of MOT educational programs.

The CMMOTA SAS Mission is to review MOT schools standards of education and ensure that WHO bechmarks are met as well the quality of faculty and supervised clinical experiences for approval to welcome new CMMOTA MOT Members.

This Mission is accomplished by:

• Fostering support and communications among CMMOTA approved schools in various areas including education and clinic
• Offering a common Canadian representation of MOT schools during a time of rapid MOT growth and demand

The CMMOTA SAS Vision for the future is that clients /patients are confident and safe they are receiving high standards of manual osteopathic therapy during treatment in Canada from ethical, efficient and professional practitioners.

SAS Benefits

The SAS is the first of it’s kind to approve MOT educational programs training and curriculum standards in Canada. These MOT standards for education are mandated in many countries around the world to protect the publics’ health and safety. Here is a list of the national advantages the CMMOTA SAS provides:

Manual Osteopathic Therapists Benefits

• Opening opportunities for manual osteopathic therapists, whom are alumni from MOT schools that have been successful with the SAS, to join CMMOTA as Members
• Staying up to date and relevant with developments in Canadian MOT industry
• Clients / Patients are confident in knowing the treatment they receive is from a graduate of a CMMOTA approved school

Receive ALL the Benefits being a CMMOTA Member provides:

• Reimbursed by the following insurance companies;
  • Alberta Blue Cross
  • Pacific Blue Cross
  • Saskatchewan Blue Cross
  • Manitoba Blue Cross
  • Manulife
  • Greenshield
  • Sunlife
  • Desjardin Insurance
  • The Co-Operators
  • Johnston Group
  • Chamber of Commerce Insurance
  • Maximum Benefits
  • CINUP
  • Group Medical Services (GMS)
  • Equitable Life
  • ClaimSecure
  • NexGenRX
  • Empire Life
  • Canadian Benefit Providers
• Work inter-provincially without changing association
• Receive regular CMMOTA Newsletters
• Have access to free COVID – 19 clinic documents
• Opportunity to attend the AGM with like minded vendors and CEC’s
• Receive various Member discounts: on workshops, products and stores
• Be proud to be a Member of the 1st association in Canada to approve MOT schools

MOT Educational Programs

• Protection of the health and safety of Canadians by establishing quality training and curriculum is compliant with the WHO benchmarks to produce safe, ethical, efficient and professional entry to level manual osteopathic therapists.
• Promote excellence in the MOT educational programs curriculum content, clinical experiences and faculty abilities that you are involved with.
• Benefit from the CMMOTA support throughout the SAS process with resources, guidance and positive feedback.
• Once successful through the SAS, your school will be added to the CMMOTA SAS Approved list on the web site. This list is a reference point of excellence in Canadian MOT schools for new manual osteopathic practitioner students to research.
• Establish Canada in the manual osteopathic therapy health care professionals community as providing quality MOT educational programs.
• Being part of a unified voice of MOT quality educational standards in a time when manual osteopathic schools and practitioner demand are escalating at a very fast pace.
• Have the ability to participate in the development of Canadian MOT educational program standards.

Resources and References

Recognized MOT Educational Outlines

World Health Organization Type 1 & Type 2
Ontario Osteopathic and Alternative Medicine Association (OOAMA)
Osteopathic European Academic Network (OsEAN) [**where Canadian Regulations Apply]
College of Massage Therapy of British Columbia (CMTBC)
Accreditation Standards for Osteopathic Courses in Australia
Osteopathy Board of Australia

Associations, Educational and Accrediting Bodies

Canadian Massage Therapy Council for Accreditation (CMTCA)
Canadian Institute of Osteopathic Therapy
National University of Medical Sciences
Canadian Manual Osteopathy Examining Board (CMOEB)
Canadian Federation of Osteopaths (CFO)
The US Council on Osteopathic Manual Practice (UCOMPE)
International Osteopathic Association

The SAS Research and Development History

The SAS research and development began in March of 2020. This initial stage, Phase 1, of SAS involved extensive research of national associations, international associations and existing standards of MOT educational programs from around the world. Time was also dedicated to exploring a spectrum of diverse curricular approval processes for numerous educational institutions, including university and college programs, both private and public operated. Focus was on making sure the WHO benchmarks were followed.

Information was accumulated while the present-day Canadian MOT educational program’s needs, downfalls and challenges were considered. The accumulated information was examined to best determine which information would pertain and be applicable for Canadian practicing MOT’s and MOT educational programs.

The next step of Phase 1 was the development of the two main SAS documents, the Benchmarks and Deliverables. The Benchmarks and Deliverables are the tools MOT educational programs will be utilized to complete the CMMOTA SAS process. These extensive documents took several months to formulate before they were shared with two Canadian MOT Subject Matter Experts to review and offer their considerations as well as feedback.

Once Phase 1 research and development were complete, the SAS Phase 2 was commenced. Phase 2 involved taking the foundations of Phase 1 and began to add to the base:

• Building the CMMOTA SAS web page
• Creating online ‘ user-friendly’ versions of the Benchmarks and Deliverables
• Working alongside 4 MOT ‘Pilot’ schools to test-run the SAS, and make improvements as indicated

With Phase 2 finalized the CMMOTA SAS is now welcoming MOT educational programs from across Canada to apply! Contact CMMOTA for any questions, each MOT educational program will have the support of the CMMOTA team along the way.

Resources and Support

1. School Steps to Approval
2. SAS Decision Format for Review
3. The SAS Application Form
4. The Recommended Text Book List
5. WHO benchmark for training in Osteopathy
6. SAS Team email sasinfo@cmmota.com or the SAS online communication portal

The CMMOTA SAS Team

The CMMOTA SAS Team is robust with experience and rich in passion for quality MOT educational programs in Canada. Here is a summary of the professionals involved with the research, development and implementation of the first ever national MOT SAS:

The CMMOTA Board of Directors

These individuals have participated in decision making and the direction of the SAS. They are directly involved with the questions new members, stake holders and potential new members present regarding MOT schools and related issues within Canada. The Board of Directors has been specific about the language used and the emphasis on supporting each and every MOT educational program to graduate safe, ethical, efficient and professional MOT’s.

The SAS Developer

The SAS Developer has worked with CMMOTA professionally for the last 5 years and has an in depth understanding of the integrity upheld by the people working with CMMOTA. The SAS Developer qualifications also entail the following:

• RMT and MOT diploma holder, honors with distinction- CMTCA trained Surveyor for
  massage therapy schools / colleges across Canada for 5 years
• Research and creation over numerous years involving massage therapy and manual osteopathic curriculum standards development

The SAS MOT Subject Matter Experts

There were two Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) whom participated in the review and feedback for quality improvements involving the SAS Benchmarks, Recommended Text Books and the Deliverables. Both of the SMEs’ have extensive experience developing MOT curriculum, practicing MOT ( along with complementary health care professional modalities ), instructing MOT students and are ardent about the quality of MOT graduates entering practice as safe, ethical, efficient and professional practitioners.

The SAS Reviewers

The SAS Reviewers are MOT’s with years of professional experience as a health care provider. The SAS Reviewers are trained by CMMOTA to Review applying MOT educational programs to act objectively and with school support. The Reviewers are not permitted to Review the MOT school they are faculty or administration with, due to conflict of interest.

The CMMOTA SAS IT

Last and definitely not the least, the SAS IT crew! The IT crew have been interwoven with the massage therapy and manual osteopathic therapy industry for over 15 years. They have a close understanding of the two industries and communities, which is demonstrated in their communications and abilities.

School Steps to Approval

Congratulations on choosing to take the steps to have your manual osteopathic therapy (MOT) educational program approved by the CMMOTA!

This document lays out each step of the approval process for you to support efficiency and ease with the SAS processes.

Please connect with the CMMOTA, by email or phone, with any questions regarding the School Steps to Approval information.

Here are the Steps:

1. Complete and submit the SAS Application Form, this will include the Confidentiality Agreement and a PIPA form

2. Pay the Application Fee BY CALLING THE CMMOTA ADMINISTRATION WITH A CREDIT CARD OR BY SENDING AN E-TRANSFER TO payments@cmmota.com

3. Once full payment is received schools will be given access to SAS online Benchmarks and Deliverables

CMMOTA will send the online user friendly versions of the Benchmarks and Deliverables to the MOT educational program. Your schools password and login to this online system will be sent to the primary contact person. We suggest taking time to review the SAS online system. We suggest taking time to review these, and then make a Strategic Plan ( a Strategic Plan template can be emailed to you upon request for no additional fee ). The Strategic Plan will provide opportunities to identify:

• The roles and responsibilities of everyone involved with the SAS process.
• Timelines for completing projects such as evidence submission of a certain Benchmark, for example.
• A method for the people involved with submitting the documents and materials online within your timeline. Remember the CMMOTA Reviewer will be the person examining and considering all evidence and materials submitted.

4. Gathering the Evidence and Materials in Preparation for Submission

This step is the most time consuming and will require an organizational system for efficiency (hopefully the Strategic Plan helped develop this). Here are a couple of suggestions to support this step:

• Benchmark 1.0, Curriculum Materials and Resources, is the largest and most important of all the Benchmarks. This Benchmark will take the most time, it may be worth while to designate one person to this Benchmark while the other Benchmarks are attended to by someone else assisting with your MOT educational program SAS process.
• Back up everything, having evidence or materials disappear will cost time and energy and be frustrating.
• If one of the Proof requirements does not exist at your MOT educational program, please do not stress, it does not necessarily mean your school will not be approved. Ask yourself, and your team, can we create and implement this (whatever the missing Proof is)? If not, be honest and perhaps consider implementing the quality improvement in the near future.
• We are here to support you 100%! Please connect with questions and let us be your resource, along with the CMMOTA web site.
• Review everything prior to submission! Missing a note, comment or evidence can happen very easily, to prevent submitting anything but the best, take time to review thoroughly before sending to the CMMOTA.

5. SAS Submission

All evidence and materials submitted to SAS will be Reviewed once the timeline has been reached. The Reviewer will communicate with the school regarding any questions or explanations necessary for accuracy and comprehension.

6. SAS Decision

The SAS Review, considerations, feedback, decision and MOT educational program response happens within 1 month of receiving the evidence and materials.
If successful, your MOT educational program will be granted Approval forever, unless major changes happen at your school/college and then communications can happen at that time. With the Approval the CMMOTA will then:

• begin to accept your MOT alumni as new members with the CMMOTA
• announce your MOT educational programs success on the Newsletter and through the CMMOTA social media avenues
• send you a SAS Approval Certificate
• place your schools name on the CMMOTA website page under the CMMOTA MOT Approved Educational Programs (a request will be sent asking permission before hand and for the logo)

If unsuccessful, the CMMOTA will provide you with recommendations on what needs to be completed in order to achieve Approval. You will be able to submit the new and revised evidence or materials up to 6 months from the date you were advised that you had been unsuccessful with the SAS process.
There is a $500.00 fee associated with the submission of new revised evidence and materials review.

7. Appeals

MOT educational programs that do not achieve Approval from the SAS process can appeal through a structured and objective process. If the appeal is still unsuccessful, the MOT educational program may re-apply for the SAS one year to the date the appeal was declared un-approved.

8. Notifying the CMMOTA regarding major updates and changes

If your MOT educational program experiences substantive changes please notify the CMMOTA. Changes that would qualify as substantive include e.g., changing location of the education program, adding a new MOT educational program, eliminating core teaching subjects, change in administration.

May this School Steps to Approval document assist you along the SAS process journey.
All the best in this exciting endeavor!

If you have any questions regarding these steps, please phone us at 403-356-1160 (Red Deer, Alberta)
or email at sasinfo@cmmota.com

SAS Decision Format for Reviewers

Reviewers follow the Decision Format during the Review of all evidence submitted by MOT educational programs for the CMMOTA SAS process.

The two SAS documents, the Benchmarks and Deliverables, each have sections for MOT educational programs to read, understand, gather evidence (documents), submit documents and comments, if necessary. The evidence and comments, once submitted to CMMOTA, are reviewed objectively for SAS purposes. Here are more detailed explanations of the Decision Framework for the Benchmarks and Deliverables.

Benchmarks

The Benchmark Mandates, described in the CMMOTA SAS Benchmark Framework, involve Reviewers determining if the submitted evidence:

• Complys: “C” meets the Benchmarks Proclamation and Mandates
• Not Compliant: “NC” not submitted or evidence does not meet the Benchmarks Proclamation and Mandates
• The Benchmarks request Proof, this is the evidence samples or documents the MOT educational programs submit for the SAS Review.

Deliverables

The Deliverables have the Proof specifics from the Benchmarks. They vary is details between the four Benchmarks and can include:

• Assessment Approaches, examples including Academic / Simulated / Clinical
• A check list of Yes or No to Evidence Submitted
• Explanation, opportunity for the MOT school to add additional comments if needed
• Review Status: C / NC
• Delivery Method and whom is responsible ( for example, sending out Covid-19 updates to faculty )

The SAS Reviewer will provide logistics and explanations for each NC a school receives. Support for quality improvements will also be offered when applicable.

MOT educational programs involved with the CMMOTA SAS process will receive the results and comments provided by the SAS Reviewer.