On September 5, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, Chicago, released an update to its criteria for accreditation that will likely cause a change in how some CME providers approach their work. In addition to moving the focus of CME toward improved outcomes, the new criteria follow the shift toward maintenance of certification, which requires physicians to undertake lifelong learning based on self assessment. CME providers will now be asked to assess their own programs, and to improve them accordingly to achieve improved patient safety and practice improvement for their learner participants.

For a copy of the documents, click here, and look for more in the September/October issue of Medical Meetings.