The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education recently announced it is looking for comments on its proposal to simplify its accreditation procedure and process. The call-for-comments is open until January 31, 2014. The proposal, which was generally well received when it was initially released last May for informal feedback, has not changed much. The main points remain:
- Simplifying and removing some of the accreditation criteria and policy requirements
- Changing terminology from “joint sponsorship” to “joint providership”
- Implementing the policy change prohibiting the use of logos of ACCME-defined commercial interests in commercial support acknowledgments
- Offering providers an abstract as an ACCME-approved tool to use when verifying performance-in-practice
- Simplifying the process for organizations applying for initial accreditation
The merger of Criteria 12 and 13 to make the flow of the overall CME program assessment more logical, one of the initial proposals, has been taken off the table for this round. Also omitted from this call for comments are the initial proposal’s changes to the criteria for achieving accreditation with commendation. ACCME is instead working on a new set of potential accreditation with commendation criteria, which it will share when it’s completed. The accreditor decided to separate the two issues so the simplification process could move on while the accreditation with commendation proposal is being revamped.
After the call for comments closes in January 2014, the ACCME board of directors will review the responses and decide whether to go forward with the proposal as is, or modify it. Until ACCME makes that decision and provides an implementation plan, ACCME-accredited providers are to comply with the current requirements.
Provide your feedback on the proposal here, and go to the ACCME Web site for more on the evolution of the accreditation process to date.
