Training Program
FIOS College Program Development
- The national and now international program was developed by an education company called FIOS for a college program, designed as a pre-employment certification program.
- As the certification program grew in the state of Oregon in the USA, there was a national request for standards to support the employed technicians across America.
- The next step for FIOS was to develop a new national examination for all technicians to challenge through work experience instead of going through the college program.
- This examination development took 1 year with technicians across America taking the exams with three different tiers to ensure the examination was industry standard and universal across the country.
National Certification
DMERT Group Lauch
- The DMERT Group Nonprofit began out of a growing industry demand for national standards and a scope of practice that needed to be created.
- The DMERT Group took on the professional development requirements for technicians employed in the USA.
- Each major stakeholder/major manufacturer was invited to participate in this new certification program and national standards development over the course of 2018 to 2020.
- Once the formal standards were established, there was a unified process and for examination and education/work hours to qualify to sit for the exams in each level of the program.
International Adoption
Internatioanl Expansion
- In 2019-2020 Canada began the adoption of the unified certification program with the intent to expand nationwide through provincial support.
- 2019 – Seating to Go approached FIOS/DMERT Group on the intent to explore a national roll-out across New Zealand as there is a growing desire to have a national standard.
- 2023 – New Zealand re-engaged after the pandemic to restart to national rollout of the program.
- 2024 – Australia – ATSA decided to partner with ATLAS-FIOS to aid in a national roll-out of the certification across Australia.
- 2024 – Colombia has engaged the program development process to look at a South America roll-out in 2025 with a Spanish translation made available globally.
TRAINING PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT 2013-2017
The DMERT Group standards were born out of a college program that was designed to certify technicians in Portland Oregon in 2014.
Once there was a certification developed, the state of Oregon requested this to be used within the Medicaid program – Care Oregon. this was a new pilot launched from 2015 to 2018.
Non-profit started in Oregon to manage the development of the new certification with the intent to grow into a multi-state program.
NATIONAL CERTIFICATION BEGINS – 2018
Scope of practice and competency development makes way for the national examinations. This was established by a collection of stakeholders ranging from manufacturing companies of medical equipment to leading universities in education departments for service and repair that existed, although limited education existed.
National examination program evaluated by industry stakeholders and audit of written exam to ensure the exam meets the new standards.
Exam requirements were established through national poll with employers and stakeholders.
Live examination process developed for national expansion from the college program. This occurred in parallel with the launch of the Level 3 auditor program to ensure the examination process can expand as fast as needed.
International Program Expansion 2019 – 2023
Canada and New Zealand expansion began in 2019 but was paused due to COVID until 2022. The program has taken on more and more demand with the increasing acknowledgement of the need for standards and certification for technicians.
2023/2024 there was a launch of a partnership with ATSA (see partnership page for more details) to provide the national examinations across all of Australia.
International Program Expansion 2024 – 2025
Expansion has begun in 2024 to move the training program into South America and Asia through strategic partnerships to aid in both translation and expansion across their respective regions.