Accreditation requires that an organization be compliant with the accreditation criteria and Standards for Integrity and Independence of the ACCME, and that the organization agrees to follow the policies of the ACCME and SSCC.
There are three primary categories of accreditation: initial accreditation, reaccreditation, and accreditation with commendation.
The first accreditation action for an organization that is new to accredited education is referred to as “Provisional Accreditation”. The duration of an initial accreditation term is two years.
Requirements for Initial Accreditation
Prior to applying for Provisional Accreditation, an organization must go through the SSCC’s pre-application process to ensure that they are eligible and have the things in place to submit a successful application.
An organization becoming accredited for the first time goes through a process known as “Provisional Accreditation”. To achieve Provisional Accreditation, an organization has to show that it has policies and processes in place that meet all expectations of the ACCME and the SSCC, and it has to demonstrate compliance with all of those criteria and standards in its Performance-in-Practice submissions.
The application process has several requirements:
Your materials and the surveyors’ report will be reviewed by the SSCC’s Accreditation Review Committee who will make a decision about your accreditation.
Provisional Accreditation, once obtained, is “full” accreditation without restriction except that:
NOTE: Initial accreditation requires that an organization must have produced two educational activities for physicians within the past 24 months. The purpose of submitting materials from two prior activities is to demonstrate that your organization has a record of producing educational activities that are compliant with ACCME and SSCC criteria and standards.
These two activities could have been accredited through joint providership with an accredited organization, or they could have been done without providing CME credit. Regardless of whether the activities were accredited or not, they need to have been planned and delivered in the manner that is required of an accredited activity, with appropriate documentation of the entire process.
The action that follows all terms after Provisional Accreditation. Reaccreditation terms are four years.
Requirements for Reaccreditation
An organization that is already accredited will undergo reaccreditation before their current term expires. Similar to initial accreditation, the process requires:
Because a provider has a longer track record of producing educational activities, a greater number of activities is usually required for reaccreditation, up to 15 depending on the size of your organization. The reaccreditation process may start up to a year before the current accreditation term expires, so that you have plenty of time to prepare. Early in the process, you will meet with MSV’s program manager to:
You will work closely with the program manager throughout the process.
Available to all organizations undergoing reaccreditation, Commendation is an optional process that is intended to recognize providers who design and implement education at a higher level than is required for standard accreditation. Accreditation terms with Commendation are six years.
Requirements for Accreditation with Commendation
Commendation is available only with reaccreditation, not with initial accreditation.
Along with the reaccreditation application, the provider will also submit information and documentation in the Self-study Report that show compliance with eight additional criteria. The ACCME has thirteen Commendation criteria from which to choose. Any eight can be chosen, although one must be from the Achieves Outcomes category.
Contact Dr. Marc Jackson, Program Manager, Accredited Continuing Education.
