What is a clinical affiliation agreement?

Who signs it

An affiliation agreement is between two institutions: the school and your facility. The signatures belong to someone with authority at each, such as a dean or contracts office at the school and a practice owner, administrator or contracts office at your site. You, as the preceptor, are usually named in an attachment or placement letter rather than as a party.

Why programs use one

The accreditation standards for NP programs make the faculty responsible for clinical placements: programs show a sufficient number of appropriate clinical sites for their students and document how faculty oversee the sites, preceptors and experiences, including sites a student found themselves. The affiliation agreement is the record that the school and the site have agreed how the student’s hours will run.

What it covers

Most agreements cover the same five things:

• The student’s role: the clinical activities the student takes part in, under supervision.
• The school’s requirements for its students: background checks, immunizations, training and the documents the school provides.
• Each side’s responsibilities: what the school does, what the site does.
• Patient information: how it is handled under HIPAA, as part of the facility’s training of students.
• The term: how long the agreement runs, and how it is renewed.

How long it takes

A small practice using a school’s standard agreement can complete it within days. A health system with a contracts office follows its own review schedule, which is a good reason to start as soon as the rotation is agreed. With Preceptorate, our team starts the agreement the moment you accept a student, so it is in place before the first day.

When your facility already has one

Many clinics already hold an agreement with nearby schools, and one agreement often serves many students from the same school. Before a new rotation, it is worth confirming that the agreement is current, that it covers the student’s discipline, and how it treats virtual hours if the rotation includes them.

How Preceptorate prepares it

1. 1You accept a studentYou tell your recruitment manager after the first call.
2. 2We prepare the agreementOur team prepares the affiliation agreement between the school and your facility.
3. 3We send it for signatureTo whoever signs for your site, with everything they need.
4. 4We complete the school’s formsThe preceptor forms and documents the school asks for.
5. 5Your student startsOn the agreed date, with the paperwork in place.

What it means for your day

Once the agreement is signed, nothing about it reaches your clinic day. Your student arrives with the school’s requirements complete, and your time goes to teaching. For virtual precepting the same applies: the school and our team handle the paperwork, and you review and sign off the hours.

Questions your facility may ask

Whoever signs for your site may want to know a few details, and our team answers them:

• Which school, and which program and course.
• The student’s discipline, such as nurse practitioner, PA or counseling.
• The dates of the rotation.
• Whether any hours are virtual.
• Who to contact at the school and at Preceptorate.

Agreements for virtual precepting

When a student precepts with you virtually, the school still records where the hours take place and who supervises them. The school’s agreement or placement form covers it, and our team prepares whichever the school uses.

Keeping track over time

Agreements usually run for a set term and are renewed. With Preceptorate, our team checks for a current agreement with the school before preparing a new one, so a returning school’s next student can start quickly.

What the student brings

Before the first day, the school confirms the student has met its own requirements: background checks, immunizations, health and safety training and any site-specific steps your facility asks for. The school keeps those records, and our team gathers what your site needs to see. Your student arrives ready to start.

Agreements and your practice

For a practice owner or manager, an affiliation agreement is also a simple way to build a relationship with a school. Once one is in place, the school can send future students more easily, and your practice becomes a known, trusted clinical site. Many practices find that hosting students becomes part of how they recruit: students who train with you already know your patients and your systems when they graduate.

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