Continuing Medical Education and Quality Improvement: A Match Made in Heaven?

TO THE EDITOR:

We applaud Shojania and colleagues (1) for recognizing that the integration of continuing medical education (CME) and quality improvement (QI) offers the opportunity to improve the quality of health care overall. Their examples describe meaningful ways for CME providers to deliberately incorporate QI into their partnerships. We appreciate the recognition of best practices and the opportunity to learn and share effective strategies.

Continuing medical education providers in the United States have been recognizing this correlation. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) released new requirements in 2006 (2) to reposition accredited CME as a strategic asset to health care quality and safety imperatives. In accordance with these requirements, CME providers are collaborating with their institutions, health systems, and communities to achieve common goals for QI. We have completed reviews based on the 2006 Accreditation Criteria for 613 (89%) ACCME-accredited providers. Our data show that providers are raising CME to a higher level of effectiveness and relevance. Continuing medical education activities are based on professional practice gaps and are designed to change physicians' competence, or physicians' performance, or patient outcomes. As Shojania and colleagues observed, providers are required to evaluate their programs' effectiveness in achieving these goals. Furthermore, providers are expected to demonstrate that they have planned and implemented improvements in their programs. The 2006 ACCME Accreditation Criteria foster CME's engagement with the health care environment by awarding providers Accreditation with Commendation if they act as strategic partners in quality initiatives through collaborative alliances, among other requirements. Overall, 21% of providers have achieved Accreditation with Commendation, and the percentage is increasing: 25% of providers in the July 2011 cohort (3), 37% in December 2011 (4), and 41% in March 2012 (5) achieved this status.