About CMEAP

"Continuing medical education consists of educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession. The content of CME is that body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, the discipline of clinical medicine, and the provision of health care to the public."

The AMA Committee for the Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education (CACME) and the Liaison Committee on Continuing Medical Education (LCCME) were assigned the responsibilities of determining which CME programs were accredited prior to 1981. In 1981 the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) was established, consisting of seven sponsoring organizations. The ACCME is charged with accrediting interstate providers of CME in the United States and recognizing state medical societies to accredit intrastate providers of CME. There are 2 methods of accreditation. The ACCME is the body that accredits the following institutions for the provision of CME:

• State medical societies,
• Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME)- accredited schools of medicine,
• National physician membership organizations,
• National specialty medical societies,
• Certain other eligible institutions and organizations, as determined by the ACCME in collaboration with the applicable state accrediting body, whose program of CME serve physician learners, more than 30% of whom are from beyond the home or contiguous state(s) of the provider.

Such organizations are accredited as interstate providers directly by the ACCME. Organizations that do not qualify as interstate providers should seek accreditation from their state medical society. State medical societies were responsible for accreditation activities in their respective states prior to the establishment of the ACCME and so were empowered to continue accrediting intrastate providers. To maintain uniform standards for intrastate and interstate CME accredited organizations, it was necessary to have both methods of accreditation under the umbrella of the ACCME. The Committee for Review and Recognition (CRR) of the ACCME was established to "recognize" state medical societies to accredit intrastate providers, which involves periodic evaluation by the CRR.Both interstate and intrastate providers of CME are judged by the same criteria. These criteria are the Essentials Areas and Elements. CME credits conferred by an accredited program are transferable across state lines since all programs use the same, or similar, standards. However, intrastate providers must document that 70% or more of the total physician learner hours awarded by the CME Program were awarded to physicians that practice in the respective state or the contiguous states.