Major Medical Societies Request Delay in Implementation of ACCME New Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education

On July 19, 2021, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and 26 other organizations sent a letter to Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), requesting that ACCME delay the required implementation of the new Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education by at least twelve months.

In the letter, the organizations ask for at least a twelve-month delay before ACCME-accredited organizations are expected to be in complete compliance with the new standards. Currently, accredited organizations are to be fully compliant by January 1, 2022. However, ASH and others note that because of “the effects the new standards on our governance, information technology systems, and educational processes, the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the unresolved issues around compliance,” it will be very difficult to meet that date.

The organizations note that their compliance with the new standards “requires that ACCME meet benchmarks regarding defining compliance with the standards, clarity of the standards, and consistency in their application.” The organizations do not believe that ACCME has met those benchmarks and provided specific examples.

One such example is that the ACCME website notes that, “Accredited CME providers need to comply with the Standards that are applicable to their organizations by January 1, 2022,” but through discussions with medical specialty society representatives earlier this year, ACCME representatives noted that documentation of “best efforts” to comply with those standards by January 1, 2022, would be sufficient. This inconsistency has led to confusion about ways organizations can best demonstrate and document their compliance.

Another issue the organizations have is that while the standards are substantiated through frequently asked questions, a toolkit, and numerous presentations, it seems that it may be more of an evolving discussion and not standards that can be implemented on their face value and/or an approved “range of practices as valid approaches to compliance.”

Similarly, the organizations note that ACCME has “at times offered inconsistent interpretations of standards, which has created some confusion and risks raising questions about the credibility of the [accreditation] process.”

As one might expect, the organizations also cite to a handful of internal difficulties with meeting the January 1, 2022, date, including resource reallocations that are required to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, devoting resources to adapting educational approaches to hybrid learning, and their own need to change policies, procedures, and systems to comply with the standards.

The ACCME Response

“The ACCME appreciates the request by some medical specialty societies to delay the implementation of the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. The ACCME’s Board of Directors reviewed and discussed these concerns at its July 2021 Board meeting and decided not to delay implementation beyond the one-year transition. We understand that planning for some larger, more complex activities will pre-date the opportunity to implement changes, and for those activities (planned in 2021 but not implemented until 2022), we would not expect to see compliance with the new requirements.

As with any transition in our rules, we are committed to ensuring that all determinations of compliance are fair, consistent, and reasonable. We have provided a significant number of tools and resources to facilitate the transition will continue to offer support. Many providers are well underway with their transition; in addition, the Standards have been adopted by other accrediting bodies in the health professions and they are also moving forward with the transition. We look forward to continuing to work with our community of CE providers to successfully implement the new Standards across the health professions. We encourage providers with questions or concerns to visit our Standards resources webpage or contact us at info@accme.org.”  The full ACCME response can be found here. https://www.accme.org/highlights/accme-response-request-delay-implementation-new-standards