If your program of continuing medical education, or CME, is a journey to bring value by helping to improve practice and ultimately improve patient care, then your mission is the map that guides your travels.

ACCME requires that your organization have a CME Mission Statement that articulates the expected results of your Program in terms of changes in learners’ competence, performance, or their patients’ outcomes. In a nutshell, we’re asking that you describe what kind of impact you want to your educational program to have on your learners and their patients. These can be changes in the strategies that inform their practice, improving what they actually do in practice, and even changing care and outcomes for patients.

The CME mission is your organization’s strategic plan for CME. It’s the “Plan” in Deming and Shewhart’s “Plan-Do-Study-Act” continuous quality improvement paradigm; beginning the cycle of asking, “What do we want to change”, “Have we been successful?”, and “How can we improve?” around and around again.

How you word your CME mission statement is up to you. You don’t need to use ACCME’s accreditation language. Rather, accredited providers tell us that the mission statement is their map and guide… a plan for where you want to go, and how you’ll know when you’ve arrived. Some organizations connect their CME Mission to their larger organizations mission and goals as a way to ask, “How can CME be a strategic value?” and “How will we know we’re having an impact?” Different organizations use different approaches – some revisit their mission annually. For others, it’s a evolving document that they reference more often. It’s really up to you. Make it your own so that it can best inform your educational journey.