Continuing Professional Certification (CPC) Benefits to BOC Approved Providers: Insights from the Pathfinder Pilot

The BOC recently announced that starting in 2026, Athletic Trainers (ATs) will be offered two renewal path options: CPC Renewal (new) and Legacy Renewal (based on current requirements). (For more information a recording of the recent CPC Renewal webinar is now available on the BOC website along with expanded CPC FAQs.)

CPC Renewal is more flexible, individualized and relevant to daily practice — built by ATs, for ATs. It reflects real-world growth through the Pathfinder platform, which offers personalized renewal tools, reflective learning and targeted CE recommendations.

Understanding the Pathfinder Pilot

Prior to the launch of CPC Renewal, the Pathfinder tool was piloted to ATs in 2024. As ATs worked through the components of Pathfinder their responses and input provided aggregated AT learning data with actionable insights that could be valuable for BOC Approved Providers. Drawing from challenge question performance, course selections, SMART goals and participant feedback, the pilot provided a sharper picture of ATs’ interests, strengths and needs.

For BOC Approved Providers, the Pathfinder pilot signals an important ongoing opportunity as CPC Renewal moves forward as the preferred path to recertification: access to timely, evidence-based data that can inform planning, improve course quality and enhance discoverability in the BOC Program Directory.

Benefits to BOC Approved Providers

1. Data-Driven Educational Planning

Participants completed My Challenge Questions (MCQs) linked to two recent journal articles. They bookmarked 1,978 references for later, showing which content they wanted to revisit or explore in more depth. These “favorited” references offer BOC Approved Providers a real-time window into ATs’ information needs and practice gaps.

By understanding which MCQ references ATs bookmark most often, BOC Approved Providers can design learning activities that align with ATs’ expressed priorities for learning. For example,

Pathfinder Pilot participants favored journal articles on:

• platelet-rich plasma therapy
• RED-S, ACL testing
• transgender patient care
• athlete coping strategies
• concussion management

These signals help BOC Approved Providers prioritize topics with a deeper personal relevance for individual ATs as they work to advance their practice and improve patient care.

2. Targeted Course Development

ATs pinned topics to their “My Learning Path,” a timeline feature allowing them to track goals and relevant activities chosen through MCQ feedback. These patterns reveal the topics that ATs want to master next. Knowing the overarching top course themes pinned to participants’ learning paths can provide BOC Approved Providers with a clearer view of the topics likely to drive engagement and enrollment.

Leading topics from the pilot included:

• Clinical decision-making and assessment
• Psychiatric emergencies
• Cardiac arrest and resuscitation (including ACLS)
• Clinical preceptor training
• Rehabilitation topics (weight training, lumbar spine, blood flow restriction, manual therapy)

3. Alignment with AT Goals

Participants’ self-set SMART goals can reveal priority areas for growth, adding another layer of insight into what continuing education should target. SMART goals submitted by Pathfinder participants highlighted professional development priorities. For BOC Approved Providers, knowing the top themes within ATs’ personal goals can offer a blueprint for targeting high-value areas. This insight allows BOC Approved Providers to design courses that address self-identified gaps ATs have pinpointed and build on their motivation to engage and apply what they learn in practice.

Top themes from the pilot included:

• Rehabilitation (32.72%)
• Therapeutic Intervention (15.56%)
• Clinical Decision Making (14.22%)
• Manual Therapy (12.01%)
• Mental Health (10.42%)
• Emergency Management (4.66%)
• Strength & Conditioning (4.41%)
• Communication Skills (3.19%)
• Concussion Management (2.57%)
• Injury Evaluation & Diagnosis (0.25%)

For BOC Approved Providers, aligning offerings with these percentages can strengthen relevance and learner engagement.

4. Enhanced Program Discoverability

Accurate, up-to-date listings of your organization’s activities in the BOC Program Directory can improve how easily ATs can find and enroll in your courses as they use Pathfinder. Pathfinder feedback reinforced that broken links or outdated descriptions undermine learner confidence. Maintaining thorough listings is a simple, high-impact step toward greater participation.

5. Participant Feedback

Feedback highlighted frustrations when BOC Program Directory listings were incomplete or outdated (e.g., broken links). For BOC Approved Providers, maintaining accurate directory listings enhances program discoverability and facilitates seamless learning.

Closing the Loop in Professional Development

The Pathfinder Pilot demonstrated how aggregated learner data can help BOC Approved Providers offer the right content at the right time. By leveraging these insights, and providing them on a recurring basis, BOC Approved Providers can make data-driven decisions about continuing education design. This can both strengthen AT professional growth and can ultimately enhance patient care outcomes.