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: The first accreditation action for an organization that is new to accredited education. Referred to as “Provisional Accreditation”, the first accreditation term for an organization is two years.
Reaccreditation: The action that follows the Provisional Accreditation term. Reaccreditation terms are four years.
Accreditation with Commendation: Available to all organizations undergoing reaccreditation. Commendation requires additional documentation of compliance with eight additional Commendation Criteria. Accreditation terms with Commendation are six years.
Initial Accreditation
An organization becoming accredited for the first time goes through a process known as “Provisional Accreditation”. Provisional Accreditation is “full” accreditation without restriction except that:
To achieve Provisional Accreditation, an organization must have have produced two educational activities within the past 24 months. 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.
Following these educational activities, the application process has several requirements:
The application allows the organization 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.
[Begin your provisional accreditation]
Reaccreditation
An organization that is already accredited will undergo reaccreditation before their current term expires. The standard accreditation term is four years.
Similar to initial accreditation, the process requires:
[get started with your reaccreditation]
Accreditation with Commendation
Achieving 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.
Along with the reaccreditation application, the provider will also submit information and documentation 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.
[Get started with Commendation]
Contact Dr. Marc Jackson, Program Manager, Accredited Continuing Education.
