The American Council on Exercise (ACE) announced the formal launch of a new recertification requirement for ACE Certified Professionals. Effective September 13, 2023, ACE Certified exercise professionals and health coaches will be required to complete at least one hour of continuing education focused on professional conduct and ethics to meet eligibility requirements to renew their ACE certifications. This update will elevate the standards for ACE certified exercise and health professionals, ensuring that they remain the top certified professionals in the industry and aligned with certification requirements within the healthcare industry and peer organizations.
“With more than 90,000 ACE Certified Professionals around the world – who provided approximately 52 million training and coaching sessions and 5.2 million group classes in 2022 – it is essential that they stay up to date on professional conduct and ethical practices throughout their careers to limit client risk and their own professional liability,” says Todd Galati, ACE senior director of credentialing and practice advancement.
The why behind this requirement
Exercise professionals and health coaches provide services that help clients improve health and fitness through structured physical activity and behavior-change coaching to reach their desired health- and fitness-related goals. It is essential that ACE Certified Professionals are equipped to protect clients from harm and limit their own professional liability by staying current with their scopes of practice, ethical and legal business practices, risk management and liability procedures, client confidentiality, privacy and protected health information and best practices for fostering equity, diversity, inclusion and culture.
A new category of continuing education
To assist ACE Certified exercise and health professionals, ACE created a category of ACE-approved continuing education courses that will meet this new requirement. Additionally, ACE Certified Professionals will have the opportunity to petition courses that meet the category requirements but have not yet been reviewed by ACE.
Before September 13, 2023, ACE Certifications can be renewed without meeting the requirement for one hour of education on professional conduct and ethics. ACE Certified Professionals renewing their ACE Certifications after September 13, 2023, will be required to complete one hour of qualifying continuing education focused on professional conduct and ethics.