Summit Professional Education

What Summit is

Summit Professional Education is a continuing education provider for rehabilitation therapists first, and for behavioral health and fitness professionals second. Its home page is aimed at physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and speech-language pathologists, under the line "UNLIMITED COURSES. ONE SUBSCRIPTION." The professions menu adds psychologists, counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, fitness and nutrition coaches, and PT/PTA students. The footer sums up the offer as "Expert-led CE in all 50 states. In-person, live, and on-demand."

The figures Summit publishes about itself are large. The home page claims 500K+ clinicians served, 1,500+ annual courses, a 90% satisfaction rate (would use again) and 25+ years in the field. The About page adds 400+ new courses annually and 400,000+ five-star reviews, and the home page banner says new courses are added weekly.

Summit also describes itself as a family of brands. The About page names PT Final Exam (exam prep for physical therapists and assistants), Herman and Wallace (certification and advanced CE in pelvic rehabilitation), NFPT (programs for getting certified as a personal trainer) and The Knowledge Tree (CE and professional development for behavioral health providers).

Courses and formats

A clinician picks a profession and a state, and the site shows that state's requirements for license renewal. Courses can be browsed by profession, by topic (body regions, documentation, geriatrics, neurology, orthopedics, pediatrics, state requirement) and by format: in-person courses, live streams, live webinars, on-demand video, on-demand text, podcasts and lunch-and-learn events. The certificate series page counts 600+ on-demand courses, 200+ live webinars a year, 50+ live streams a year and 500+ in-person courses a year.

The featured courses give a sense of the level. Each is 2.0 CE hours on demand, taught by a named clinician: Ethical Practice in Physical Therapy, Rehab for the High Complexity Dizzy Patient, a two-part series on core strength and posture in older adults, Total Knee/Hip Arthroplasty in the first 72 hours, Vestibular Rehabilitation, and a course on Parkinson's disease. Ratings are shown with the number of reviews, often in the thousands. Summit also runs the PT & OT Connection Podcast, and monthly CE podcast episodes are included in every plan.

Certificate series

The certificate series are Summit's structured tracks, and they are, in the page's words, "Only for Summit Subscribers." Each series bundles several courses in one practice area and ends with a customized certificate, in addition to the standard per-course CE certificates, plus a Summit account badge; both can be downloaded and shared on social media or a resume. The plans advertise "Certificate Series in 18 Practice Areas". Examples from the series page: Home Health spans 13 hours, Stroke combines three 6-hour courses into 18 hours, Geriatric runs 16 hours, Fall Prevention 20 hours, Lymphedema 10 hours and Low Vision 8 hours. Others cover pelvic health, cancer rehab, vestibular, hand therapy, sports performance, cardiovascular and pulmonary care, dementia, total joint replacement, shoulder, Tai Chi, sensory, wound care and cognitive rehab. Some courses inside a series can be taken as an online video or a live session.

Pricing

Summit sells three annual subscriptions, and the home page prints all three prices:

• Online Access, $279.99 a year: 600+ on-demand video and text courses, monthly CE podcast episodes, and certificate series in 18 practice areas.
• Virtual Access, $309.99 a year: everything in Online Access plus 200+ live interactive webinars and 50+ live streams a year.
• All Access, $329.99 a year, marked "Best Value": everything above plus 500+ in-person courses a year.

The FAQ says live and in-person events can also be bought à la carte. Subscriptions renew annually, and a subscriber can manage or cancel the renewal at any time from the account. Watching a live webinar needs "A modern browser and a stable internet connection", with no special software, and creating an account "takes less than a minute".

Exam prep and certifications

Summit's exam prep is, in its own words, "powered by PT FINAL EXAM", which the exam prep page describes as Summit joining forces with PT Final Exam as part of its family of brands. The offer is NPTE preparation for DPT and PTA students: live online courses with instructors in real time, comprehensive study plans, and realistic practice exams with NPTE-style questions and full-length simulations. Dr. Will Crane, PT, DPT, OCS, the founder of PT Final Exam, leads it and hosts The NPTE Podcast, which is free for all students with new episodes monthly. Student reviews on the page include "This course helped me pass my 2nd attempt by 40 points!" (Katie) and "They helped me focus, retain more, and stay motivated through the whole process." (LaQuanda). The academic partnerships page claims 20K+ PT/PTA students helped to pass the NPTE. On the fitness side, the About page lists programs for getting certified as a personal trainer and in other fitness and nutrition specialties through NFPT.

For organizations

Summit sells to hospitals, outpatient clinics, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, behavioral health groups, staffing companies, higher education programs and K-12 schools. The home page claims 500+ organizations served and a 96% annual renewal rate. For administrators, the certificate series page offers a free set of tools through the Group Learning team: a platform with a view of the team's licenses, CE courses completed "(from any provider)", upcoming scheduled courses and certificate series status, shown in a demo.

Higher education programs get the NPTE Crash Course, practice exam simulators, an on-demand video library, a mobile app, and a Faculty Dashboard with Cohort System View that shows cohort performance by NPTE exam system before exam day.

K-12 districts get CE subscriptions covering seven professions: PTs, PTAs, OTs, OTAs, SLPs, counselors and psychologists, and social workers and MFTs. The rehab subscription for schools includes 1,500+ courses for K-12 and early intervention settings, compliance courses (HIPAA, infection control, implicit bias, safe patient handling) and certificate series. Behavioral health CE comes through The Knowledge Tree, which the page credits with 350+ CE hours across 70+ courses, currently in 22 states, approved by APA for psychologists and NBCC for counselors. Districts can also book professional development days: they pick a topic and a date, Summit sends a certified instructor for a private in-person or live virtual event, and Summit handles the PT, OT, SLP, ATC and BH accreditations. The page notes that Summit does not currently serve BCBA/RBT professionals in K-12.

Who it suits

Summit fits PTs, OTs and SLPs who renew a license on a cycle and want one annual price for everything they take, with state requirements checked on the same site. The three tiers let a clinician choose between on-demand only and a plan that includes live webinars or in-person courses. Therapists who want depth in one area get the certificate series, and PT and PTA students get NPTE prep through PT Final Exam. Hospitals, clinics, districts and PT programs have their own routes, from the group learning tools to PD days and the faculty dashboard. Behavioral health professionals are served too, though through The Knowledge Tree and in fewer states than the rehab catalog, so a counselor or social worker should check that the state is covered first.