After years of insisting that nursing colleges separately incorporate from related hospitals and hospital systems, causing some schools to relinquish Medicare “pass-through” funding,  the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) has changed course. Today, HLC issued a Separate Incorporation Policy Change.

Removing language interpreted by prior HLC leadership as requiring separate incorporation, the revised policy substitutes a requirement that HLC-accredited institutions have a “primary purpose” of providing higher education. More specifically, the revised policy (HLC’s “Jurisdiction” policy, INST.B.10.010):