Newswise — Waltham, MA, Aug. 1, 2012—The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) are holding the 2012 ACCME Regional Accreditor Meeting on August 6-7 at the Massachusetts Medical Society in Waltham. During the program, continuing medical education (CME) accreditors will engage in a leader-to-leader discussion about the strategic value CME brings to physician certification and licensure, and the delivery of safe and effective care across the US. Participants will share ideas and perspectives about the future of the CME system and fulfillment of the ACCME’s strategic goals.
The Massachusetts Regional Accreditor Meeting is one of three regional forums the ACCME has scheduled during the summer of 2012. Regional forums were also held June 25-26 in Chicago and July 9-10 in Portland, OR. The ACCME launched the regional accreditor forums in 2009, as part of its ongoing commitment to provide educational support and professional development opportunities for the regional CME system.
The Massachusetts Regional Accreditor Meeting will bring together leadership, staff, and volunteers from the ACCME, the MMS, and ten other states/territories, including Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Washington, and West Virginia. Members of the ACCME Board of Directors and the ACCME Committee for Review and Recognition will participate.
Guest speaker Lance Talmage, MD, Chair, Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), will discuss opportunities for CME to support physicians' Maintenance of Licensure (MOL). The FSMB's Maintenance of Licensure initiative aims to strengthen the licensure renewal process by implementing new standards for physicians' lifelong learning and practice improvement. The FSMB recognizes CME as an integral part of this process and the ACCME supports the MOL initiative.
The ACCME, a national accrediting body for organizations that produce continuing medical education, designates state and territory medical societies that meet its high standards as accreditors of local CME programs. There are more than 1,300 CME providers accredited by 43 ACCME-recognized state or territory medical societies. Each year, these CME providers offer more than 46,000 CME activities in communities throughout the United States, drawing approximately four million health care practitioner participants. With the adaptation of the 2006 ACCME Accreditation Criteria, accredited CME is now strongly positioned to support US health care quality improvement efforts and to align with emerging continuing professional development systems such as the FSMB Maintenance of Licensure initiative.
"The FSMB believes that lifelong, continuing medical education is an effective means of physician learning and change as part of a system of continuous professional development,” said Humayun Chaudhry, DO, president and CEO, FSMB. “As medical boards begin developing maintenance of licensure programs, accredited CME can be an important source of support for physicians' reflective self-assessment and an asset in helping physicians improve their competence, performance, and patient care.”
“The Massachusetts Medical Society is honored to host the 2012 ACCME Regional Accreditor Meeting. A basic tenet of the mission of the MMS ‘… shall be to do all things as may be necessary and appropriate to advance medical knowledge…’ We look forward to rich discussions with state medical society colleagues, the ACCME, and the Federation of State Medical Boards on ways to assist our accredited providers with the development of relevant, lifelong learning opportunities,” stated Corinne Broderick, Executive Vice President, MMS.
"State medical societies provide physicians and health care teams with practice-based education that contributes to improving health care quality and safety in communities across the country," said Murray Kopelow, MD, ACCME Chief Executive. "The ACCME is producing the 2012 Regional Accreditor Meeting in Massachusetts as part of our commitment to fostering leadership among regional CME accreditors and engaging in strategic discussions about advancing CME as a Bridge to Quality. We are honored that Dr. Talmage is joining us and we look forward to exploring how accredited CME can serve as a resource to physicians seeking to fulfill the requirements of Maintenance of Licensure."
#####The Massachusetts Medical SocietyThe Massachusetts Medical Society is the statewide professional association of physicians with more than 24,000 members. It publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and newsletters covering 12 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education for health care professionals throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.
Federation of State Medical BoardsThe Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) is a national non-profit organization representing the 70 medical and osteopathic boards of the United States and its territories. The FSMB leads by promoting excellence in medical practice, licensure, and regulation as the national resource and voice on behalf of state medical and osteopathic boards in their protection of the public. For more information, please visit www.fsmb.org.
The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical EducationThe Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that is responsible for accrediting US institutions that offer continuing medical education through a voluntary, self-regulatory system. The ACCME also has a system for recognizing state medical societies as accreditors for local organizations offering CME.
The ACCME's mission is to identify, develop, and promote standards for quality continuing medical education that improves health care for patients and their communities. There are approximately 2,000 accredited CME providers in the United States, whose educational activities draw more than 20 million health care practitioner participants annually.
The ACCME's member organizations include the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Association for Hospital Medical Education, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and the Federation of State Medical Boards of the US, Inc.For more information, visit www.accme.org.
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