Highlights

We are pleased to release the ACCME Data Report: Renewal and Growth in Accredited Continuing Education – 2022, which includes data from our community of 1,620 accredited organizations that offer physicians, other healthcare professionals, and healthcare teams an array of continuing education resources to promote high-quality, safe, and effective care for patients.

The data in this report demonstrates that the accredited continuing education (CE) system has weathered a storm, regrouped, and rebounded. In 2022, our community of educators continued to evolve to meet changing needs and facilitated a re-introduction of clinicians to each other, their educational homes, and their own learning in a post-pandemic world.

Key Takeaways

• The number of accredited educational activities increased by 13%, from about 204,000 in 2021 to 230,000 in 2022, representing the work of 1,620 accredited providers.
• Live activities rebounded, up 6% to 85,000 courses (from 80,000 in 2021).
• The increase in live activities correlated to a greater presence of advertising and exhibits at large conferences and annual meetings. As a result, advertising and exhibit income increased 74% to $640 million (up from $368 million last year). 
• Enduring materials offered in 2022 jumped 21% to about 108,500 (from 89,000).
• Activities measuring various types of outcomes increased across the board over 2021. Most notably, activities measuring improvements in community/population health increased 340% (about 17,000 in 2022, up from 4,000 in 2021). Activities measuring increases in patient health more than doubled (from 15,000 to over 36,000).
• The total number of accredited providers decreased to 1,620 in 2022, from 1,668 in the prior year.  This was primarily the result of consolidation within the hospital industry.
• Providers are increasingly recognizing the value of interprofessional continuing education (IPCE), as the number of providers accredited by Joint Accreditation increased by 10%, from 132 in 2021 to 146 in 2022, and the number of other learner interactions increased 15% to 32.2 million in 2022 from 28.1 million in 2021.

“I have immense confidence that together our team at ACCME and our community of educators can tackle challenges because of our shared pursuit of integrity, of excellence, and our commitment to protect a system we have nurtured and grown successfully together.” –Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO, ACCME

Hear from Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, ACCME's President and CEO.

ACCME data reports from prior years are available here. An Excel download with the 2022 data is available here. Questions? Email info@accme.org. We are happy to help.