Overview:
Since 1999, American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG)’s commitment to high-quality education has been recognized with over 25 years of continuous accreditation with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), placing ACMG at the forefront of evidence-based educational initiatives addressing genetic and genomic medicine. In alignment with ACCME accreditation guidelines and requirements, ACMG’s framework ensures that accredited continuing medical education (CME) is designed to be relevant, practice-based, effective, based on valid content, and independent of commercial influence. For more information regarding the ACCME criteria, standards, and policies, please refer to https://accme.org/.
What is Continuing Medical Education (CME)?
CME 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.
How is (CME) Created?
Much a like a quality improvement initiative, CME is a cyclic process that aims to address persistent gaps in clinical practice through educational interventions. As shown below, this cycle shows a continuous improvement process that begins with identifying a new education need through a gap analysis, defining outcomes, and designing targeted instructional strategies that incorporate learning science and adult learning principles. It then moves through implementation, ongoing support, and evaluation to measure impact. The insights gained feed into future needs assessments, which informs the next round of educational needs and refinements.
Collectively, the ACMG CME Program will improve the competence of medical genetics and genomics healthcare professionals, enhance the performance of genetic and genomic services, and/or improve patient outcomes through this process.
Requirements for CME to be Accredited by ACMG:
- Course Director: This planner or speaker is a member of the College and accepts responsibility to ensure the activity aligns with ACMG policies and ACCME accreditation requirements.
- Co-Directors: When an external organization aims to develop, implement, and evaluate an educational activity in a joint providership with ACMG as the accredited provider of the accredited continuing education, the organization must designate a Co-Director to serve as a planner of the activity. Course Directors, who are additional planners or speakers, are required to be members of the College, and they accept responsibility to ensure the activity aligns with ACMG policies and ACCME accreditation requirements. ACMG retains final decision-making authority in joint providerships.
- Individuals in Control of Content: All planners, speakers, independent reviewers, moderators, and others in control of content will disclose with ACMG Education all financial relationships with ineligible companies in the last 24 months. ACMG Education will identify, mitigate and disclose to learners any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies, in alignment with ACMG’s Financial Disclosure and Mitigation Policy.
- Content is thoughtfully constructed with instructional design that integrates adult learning principles and evidence-based principles to impact learners’ competence or performance and/or patient outcome. Content aligns with ACMG’s Mission Statement Policy and Content Validation Policy.
Key Definitions:
- Eligible Company: Organizations eligible to be accredited in the ACCME System (eligible organizations) are those whose mission and function are: (1) providing clinical services directly to patients; or (2) the education of healthcare professionals; or (3) serving as fiduciary to patients, the public, or population health; and other organizations that are not otherwise ineligible. For examples and more information, please refer to https://accme.org/rule/eligibility/.
- Ineligible Company: Companies that are ineligible to be accredited in the ACCME System (ineligible companies) are those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. For examples and more information, please refer to https://accme.org/rule/eligibility/.
- Competence: “Knowing how” to do something. Knowledge, in the presence of experience and judgment, is translated into ability (competence) that has not yet been put into practice. It is what a professional would do in practice, if given the opportunity. Competence is not the same as knowledge.
- Performance: Placing competence into action. It refers to the skills, abilities, and strategies that professionals implement in their real-world practice.
- Patient Outcomes: Impacts or changes that occur because of practitioners’ performance. They can include various aspects such as patient health status, patient satisfaction, patient engagement, and the delivery of safe and effective care.
Important Consideration:
- ACMG retains the right to withdraw credit at any time, should it determine that ACCME Criteria, Policies, and/or ACMG Policies have been violated.