"The ACCME at Work" Report

The ACCME is pleased to announce the publication of "The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education at Work: Accreditation, Recognition, Education, Operations, and Governance."

The purpose of this report is to provide an in-depth, easily understandable explanation of our accreditation system and services. The report includes narrative and data designed to answer questions that we are frequently asked about how we work.

We produced this report as part of our ongoing efforts to facilitate dialogue, increase transparency, and promote understanding about the ACCME and accredited CME.

We thought it was important to publish this report now, because the ACCME accreditation system has experienced significant change and growth during the past few years. We have undergone this transformation because the government, the public, and the profession of medicine called on accredited CME to increase its accountability.

In 2006, we released the Accreditation Criteria to answer that call. As you will see in this report, our data demonstrate that accredited providers are successfully managing the transition to the 2006 Accreditation Criteria.

Accredited CME is now strongly positioned to support U.S. health care quality-improvement efforts and to align with emerging continuing professional development systems such as the Maintenance of Certification and the Maintenance of Licensure initiatives.

Throughout our ongoing transformation, we have aimed to support accredited providers in meeting the ACCME’s higher standards and to demonstrate accredited CME’s value to stakeholders. As we explain in this report, we have expanded our collaboration, communications, outreach, and education efforts.

We think that these efforts illustrate our commitment to following the continuous improvement model embodied in the Accreditation Criteria. We expect physician learners and accredited providers to engage in ongoing learning, change, and improvement—and we hold ourselves to the same expectations.

Now in its 30th year, the ACCME remains dedicated to maintaining a voluntary, self-regulated accreditation system and to supporting accredited CME providers and other stakeholders in their efforts to close health care quality gaps and address emerging public health concerns.

We hope that "The Accreditation Council for CME at Work" will increase understanding about the ACCME accreditation system among a wide range of stakeholders, including accredited providers, physician learners, other accreditors, health care leadership organizations, the public, the media, and the government.

We hope that this report shows you that the ACCME accreditation system is your accreditation system. We encourage you to share this report with your stakeholders, to deepen their awareness of how CME Matters to Patient Care.

Thank you.