Providing relevant foundation sciences information to prospective Orthotic Fitters and other allied health professions...
About Certification CEUs
About certification
There are two certifying agencies that can certify an individual to become a certified orthotic fitter.
- The American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics (ABC) awards the Certified Fitter orthotics (CFo) credential. Go to www.abcop.org for additional information.
- Board of Certification/Accreditation International (BOC) awards the Certified Orthotic Fitter (COF) credential. Go to www.bocinternational.org for additional information.
Both agencies are accredited and recognized by CMS. In general, prior to qualifying to take their orthotic fitter exams, they both require:
- 1000 hours (roughly 6 months) of hands-on experience validated by a letter of attestation
- Passing an approved orthotic fitter school such as the ATi
- Paying appropriate fees
While their scopes of practice for orthotic fitters are relatively similar, the one outstanding difference relates to fitting therapeutic shoes. ABC has a separate shoe fitter certification so the CFo certification excludes therapeutic shoes. BOC includes therapeutic shoes in its COF certification, so attending the ATi therapeutic shoe course is necessary to sit for the BOC exam.
NCOPE is an organization with the mission of accrediting education programs to qualify individuals to take the ABC certification exams. ATi is accredited by NCOPE to qualify individuals to sit for the ABC orthotic fitter certification exam.
About continuing education
BOC has approved the ATi for 39.25 (36.75 Category I and 2.5 Category II) credits. Attending the live fitting lab is required to earn the credits.
ABC will approve the ATi Orthotic Fitters Course for Category II credit. Applicable credits toward the renewal of an ABC credential will depend on the number of Category II and/or Business credits already applied to the individual's record. For example, a CFo may use up to 16 credits under Category II and/or Business toward their 50 needed for renewal. Please contact the ABC Continuing Education department at (703) 836-7114 for the number of credits you may be eligible to receive.
NATA has approved ATi for CEs for ATCs.