Eligibility to Apply for ACCME Accreditation:
ACCME has specific criteria for determining an organization's eligibility to receive ACCME accreditation. See "Determining Your Eligibility for ACCME Accreditation" for more information.

Relevant Downloads:

The System of Accreditation (PDF)
Essential Areas and Elements, including the Standards for Commercial Support (PDF)
ACCME Accreditation Policies - All (PDF)
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations (PDF)
Accreditation Fee Schedule (PDF)

Determining Your Eligibility for ACCME Accreditation
Only certain organizations are eligible to receive ACCME accreditation. The following criteria must be met before an organization will be considered for ACCME accreditation:

The organization must,

* Be located in the United States and its Territories.
* Be developing and/or presenting a program of CME for physicians on a regular and recurring basis.
* Not be a commercial interest.
* Not be developing and/or presenting a program of CME that is, in the judgment of the ACCME, devoted to advocacy on unscientific modalities of diagnosis or therapy.
* Present activities that have "valid" content. Specifically, the organization must be presenting activities that promote recommendations, treatment or manners of practicing medicine that are within the definition of CME. Providers are not eligible for accreditation if they present activities that promote treatments that are known to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits or are known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients.

The ACCME accredits the following institutions, if they choose to seek accreditation:

* State medical societies,
* Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME)-accredited schools of medicine,
* National physician membership organizations
* National medical specialty societies and
* Other organizations whose programs of CME serve physician learners, 30% or more of whom are from beyond the home or contiguous state(s) of the organization. Organizations whose programs of CME primarily serve physician learners, 70% or more of whom are from the home or contiguous state(s) of the organization, are usually accredited by an ACCME recognized state medical society. Note that a CME provider may not maintain both ACCME accreditation and accreditation by a state medical society at the same time. If a state medical society accredited provider alters its function and successfully achieves ACCME accreditation, that provider must notify the respective state medial society. A similar process follows for ACCME accredited providers that become accredited by a state medical society.