CHICAGO --The American Medical Association (AMA) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) are today opening a call for comment on their proposal to simplify and align their expectations for accredited continuing medical education (CME) activities that offer the AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Comments will be accepted through May 25, 2017, at 5 pm CDT.
Reflective of the AMA and ACCME’s shared values, the proposal for alignment is designed to encourage innovation and flexibility in accredited CME while continuing to ensure that activities meet educational standards and are independent of commercial influence. The proposal is aimed at allowing accredited CME providers to introduce and blend new instructional practices and learning formats that are appropriate to their learners and setting, provided they abide by the seven core requirements described in the proposal.
The core requirements outlined in the proposal are aligned with ACCME requirements—and do not represent any new rules for accredited providers. However, the AMA has simplified and reduced its learning format requirements to provide more flexibility for CME providers. To further encourage innovation in educational design and delivery, CME providers may design and deliver an activity that uses blended or new approaches to driving meaningful learning and change. For these activities, the provider can designate credits on an hour-per-credit basis using their best reasonable estimate of the time required to complete the activity. Additional details about the “Proposed Simplification of Requirements for Accredited CME Activities Certified for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™” can be found appended to this news release.
“We celebrate this collaborative effort with our AMA colleagues and the opportunity to advance the evolution of CME. This proposal reflects the values of our CME providers and supports their aspirations to engage in education that makes a meaningful difference in clinician practice and patient care. We want to do everything we can to encourage innovation and experimentation in CME, so that educators are free to respond nimbly to their learners’ changing needs while staying true to core principles for educational excellence and independence. We thank accredited CME providers for their participation in this process and look forward to their feedback on our proposal and to our continued work together to drive quality in postgraduate medical education and improve care for the patients and communities we all serve,” said Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO, ACCME.
