Incentivising Higher Level Outcome Achievement in Continuing Education: Five-Year Experience from the ACCME Commendation Criteria

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) Menu of Criteria for Commendation was created to incentivise a variety of behaviours and outcomes from accredited providers. ACCME analysed data from among the 1,053 accreditation decisions made between November 2017 and March 2022, of which 122 had applied for commendation. Accredited providers plan for higher level outcomes in their activities at an increasing rate over the past five years. Since 2017, 49 (40%) of the 122 organisations that applied for commendation under ACCME’s new Menu of Criteria for Commendation were awarded this distinction. Of the organisations applying for commendation, 62%, 48% and 31% sought commendation using the “performance”, “quality” and “community health” criteria, respectively. The success rate for each of these criteria was 78%, 68% and 66% respectively. Accreditation incentives can change the performance of educational providers and augment the quality and efficacy of continuing education.