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Accreditation Council for CME and American Board of Pathology Announce Collaboration in Support of Physician Lifelong Learning

Collaboration Simplifies the Integration of Continuing Certification and Accredited CME for Pathologists and Educators

  • The ACCME and ABPath share a commitment to supporting pathologists’ continuing professional development and to improving pathologists’ performance and their care of patients.

  • The collaboration is designed to expand the number and diversity of accredited CME activities that meet the ABPath’s Continuing Certification requirements and to streamline the process for accredited CME providers and ABPath diplomates.

Tampa, FL and Chicago, IL

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) and the American Board of Pathology (ABPath) are pleased to announce a new collaboration to simplify the integration of accredited continuing medical education (CME) and Continuing Certification (formerly Maintenance of Certification or MOC). 

The ACCME and ABPath share a commitment to supporting pathologists’ continuing professional development and to improving pathologists’ performance and their care of patients. The collaboration is designed to expand the number and diversity of accredited CME activities that meet the ABPath’s Continuing Certification requirements and to streamline the process for accredited CME providers and ABPath diplomates. The ACCME and ABPath pursued this collaboration in response to the needs and requests of diplomates and of accredited CME providers that support pathologists’ lifelong learning and improvement. 

The collaboration with ABPath continues the ACCME’s commitment to supporting the goals of Continuing Certification and Maintenance of Certification. The ACCME has also developed collaborations with the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP).  

A Simpler, Unified Process 

The collaboration will facilitate the ability of ABPath diplomates to participate in high-quality accredited CME that meets the ABPath Continuing Certification requirements for Lifelong Learning (Part II), Self-Assessment Modules (SAM), and Improvement in Medical Practice (Part IV). 

All accredited CME providers in the ACCME System already use the Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) to enter data about each of their CME activities. CME providers now have the option to also use PARS to register activities that began on or after January 1, 2018 for ABPath Continuing Certification. CME providers that choose to participate will use PARS to attest their activities’ compliance with ABPath Continuing Certification requirements. 

The ACCME maintains CME Finder, a publicly available, online CME search tool that offers a one-stop resource for physicians seeking to earn Continuing Certification and Maintenance of Certification credits by participating in accredited CME. The list will display CME activities registered for ABPath Continuing Certification.  

CME providers will report information about physician participation through PARS to ABPath, removing this responsibility from ABPath diplomates. Diplomates should check with their CME provider to ensure that their participation will be reported through PARS.

More information is available on the CME that Counts for ABPath Continuing Certification webpage.

Leadership Comments 

“The ABPath is committed to a meaningful and relevant Continuing Certification program that demonstrates to the public and the profession that our diplomates are current in their medical knowledge and are continually striving to improve their practice and provide excellent patient care. Our partnership with ACCME and CME providers is another initiative to strengthen our Continuing Certification program and provide a service to our diplomates that facilitates their participation in the program.”—Rebecca L. Johnson, MD, CEO, American Board of Pathology (ABPath)  

“To advance the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) mission of providing excellence in education, the Society supports the professional development needs of our members by making CME a priority of our organization. This is accomplished in part through innovative collaborations to support the lifelong learning needs of pathologists and improve the care of the patients they serve. As an ACCME-accredited provider and one of the ABPath Cooperating Societies, the ASCP is pleased to align with the ACCME and ABPath to enable pathologists and other physicians to more easily identify CME activities to meet their Continuing Certification requirements based on their individual learning preferences.”—Suzanne Ziemnik, MEd, Chief Officer, Learning and Educational Research, American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP); Member, Board of Directors, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) 

“We share a common mission with our colleagues at ABPath to facilitate the continuing professional development of physicians. We celebrate our collaboration because it will generate more opportunities for accredited CME providers to deliver relevant, effective, independent, practice-based education that counts for ABPath Continuing Certification. I look forward to working with ABPath, our community of accredited CME providers, and our community of diplomates to leverage the power of education to drive quality in our medical profession and improve care for the patients we all serve.”—Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) 

Resources  

Questions 

Accredited CME providers: Please contact info@accme.org. 

ABPath-certified physicians: Please contact ABPath at John@abpath.org. 

Media Inquiries 

ACCME 

Tamar Hosansky 
312-245-4066 
thosansky@accme.org 

Megan Peters Jovic 
312-245-4054
mpeters@accme.org 

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ABPath 

The mission of the American Board of Pathology is to promote the field of pathology and the continuing competency of practicing pathologists. 

ACCME 

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, responsible for accrediting institutions that offer continuing medical education (CME) and for recognizing state medical societies as accreditors of local CME programs.  

The ACCME sets standards for CME that reflect the values of the educator community and aim to accelerate learning, inspire change, and champion improvement in healthcare. These standards ensure that accredited CME is designed to be relevant to clinicians’ needs, evidence-based, evaluated for its effectiveness, and independent of commercial influence. Through participation in accredited CME, clinicians and teams drive improvement in their practice and optimize the care, health, and wellness of their patients. 

Accredited CME facilitates engagement with physicians and healthcare teams where they live, learn, and work. There are approximately 1,800 accredited CME providers within the ACCME System, across the country and internationally, representing a range of organizations including medical schools, hospitals/health systems, government/military agencies, specialty societies, and insurance/managed-care companies. Accredited providers offer about 159,000 activities each year, comprising more than one million hours of instruction and including more than 27 million interactions with physicians and other healthcare professionals. 

For more information, visit www.accme.org. You can also follow the ACCME on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.