As part of its ongoing process to streamline its accreditation system, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education has proposed a new set of criteria for achieving its highest level of accreditation, Accreditation with Commendation.
After spending the past two years talking with CME stakeholders to determine what would best meet their needs, the accreditor has come up with a menu of 15 options providers can pick from, rather than a one-size-fits-all list of criteria everyone would have to meet, regardless of their organizational structure and specific needs. The criteria are organized in four sections: CME creation, CME activities, the overall CME program, and CME outcomes. Each proposed criterion also comes with notes designed to clarify the ACCME’s reasoning for including it.
“The purpose of the menu structure is to reflect the strength of the diverse community of CME providers, offer more flexibility, and promote innovation and creativity,” the ACCME said in a statement.
Now it’s up to the CME community to review the menu and let ACCME know what they think of it: Do the new criteria add value? How many of the 15 items should providers need to satisfy to qualify for Accreditation with Commendation? How should ACCME measure compliance?
The ACCME wants to make it easy for CME providers to do their homework before the discussions begin; it is providing a PDF of the menu; and this video tutorial from ACCME President and CEO Murray Kopelow, MD:
ACCME also will be holding a free webinar Tuesday, May 13. (You can submit questions for the webinar via this online survey).
What do you think of the new criteria, and the menu format? Drop an e-mail to Sue Pelletier at [email protected] or leave a comment below.
