top of page

How Do I Get CME Accreditation for My Course, Content, or Conference?

  • 2 days ago
  • 8 min read

For several reasons, many physicians in our online communities for doctors who have side gigs that involve educational content want to pursue CME accreditation for their material. There are several different pathways to do this, which will depend on the type of credits that you want to offer, who you want accreditation from, and what kind of content you want accredited. Below, we provide a guide to approaching the CME accreditation process. 


Disclosure/Disclaimer: Our content is for generalized educational purposes. While we try to ensure it is accurate and updated, we cannot guarantee it. We are not formal financial, legal, or tax professionals and do not provide individualized advice specific to your situation. You should consult these as appropriate and/or do your own due diligence before making decisions based on this page. To learn more, visit our disclaimers and disclosures.


Questions to ask potential CME accreditation partners


What is CME accreditation?


Continuing Medical Education (CME) accreditation is a formal process that allows for educational content for clinicians that meets specific standards to be eligible to award CME credits. The process is largely overseen by the ACCME (Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education). 


As you likely know, doctors need CME credits for licensing, maintenance of certification, and importantly for their own education to ensure that they stay current with new updates in their field through lifelong learning.


In order to be CME accredited, content must:


  • Be provided or approved by an organization that has the power to grant CME credits, like the ACCME

  • Follow strict educational standards for being balanced, free of commercial conflict, and evidence based

  • Stay compliant with documentation requirements showing clear learning objectives, why the content is important or valuable for lifelong learning, disclosures related to the person or organization providing the educational content, and demonstrating effectiveness through evaluations

  • Allow for the organizers to track participation and issue credits based on the required criteria


One key thing to note is that the ACCME doesn’t accredit individual pieces of content, but rather the organizations that run the CME programs, who have to follow all the criteria. In order for you to offer CME, you have to either become accredited to provide it, or you have to operate under an accredited provider.



Why provide CME credits for my educational content?


There are many reasons why you might want to pursue CME accreditation for content you’re creating or a conference or get together that you’re hosting. These include:


  • Credibility: Getting your CME accredited by a reputable source like the ACGME or your state medical society signals that the content is quality educational material, and may make it more likely that others, including institutions, would like to purchase it

  • Allows physicians to get credit for consuming your content: Most physicians will see this as an added perk of engaging with your content or coming to your event, as even though there are lots of CME sources these days, some of which are free, physicians are always looking for more CME for licensure and maintenance of certification reasons

  • Can help your content be found: Many people are searching for CME, and there are also lots of directories which list CME sources, including those from credible accreditors such as medical societies

  • Can help you with monetization of your content: Having CME may be a draw for physicians on the fence about using or watching your content, and may provide a way for them to use their CME money on your product



Are there any downsides to getting CME accreditation for your content?


It’s important to look at both sides of this. There are also downsides of getting your content or conference CME accredited which introduce nuances and annoyances. These include:


  • Documentation: CME accreditation follows very strict guidelines, and this introduces the headaches of documenting that your content fits criteria, has relevant disclosures, and maintains careful record keeping

  • Compliance: It’s important that your CME accredited content is free of commercial interest, and this may get in the way of you being able to deliver your content in a way that you like

  • Slow process: CME accreditation can take a while to get, and if you’re rapidly creating content or a product, you may not want to wait for the process to be complete before launching your product or service


If your target audience isn’t clinicians or if the upside to providing it doesn’t outweigh the hassles of documentation and compliance, it likely doesn’t make sense to jump through all these hurdles. 



Different types of CME accreditation and CME credits


First, it’s important to know the types of accreditation and credits that you need for your audience.



Different accrediting bodies and types of accreditations


  • ACCME - AMA PRA accreditation (American Medical Association’s Physician’s Recognition Award (AMA PRA) Category 1 Creditâ„¢): This is likely the most widely recognized form of CME for physicians and the one asked for by many licensing bodies, and is accreditation through the ACCME

  • Society Specific Accreditation - some popular examples include the AOA credits from the American Osteopathic Association and AAFP credits from the American Academy of Family Physicians

  • Joint Accreditation - this allows you to have accreditation across multiple healthcare professions, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and others

  • International CME Accreditation - this is beyond the scope of this article, but many countries have their own accreditation systems



Categories of CME credits


  • Category 1 CME: This is the gold standard, and is usually uniformly recognized for not just licensing and maintenance of certification, but also by hospital systems providing reimbursements for CME activities, because it is formally accredited

  • Category 2 CME: This is often offered for self-claimed learning activities, such as reading a journal or listening to a podcast, etc. Since the physicians claim it themselves, it’s not formally accredited. This may preclude some organizations or entities from recognizing it or reimbursing it, so it’s less ideal if one of the draws to your content is that physicians can use their CME funds for it



What kinds of things can be accredited for Continuing Medical Education credits?


There are more examples everyday, but classically, the types of things that may qualify for CME credits include:


  • In person gatherings such as conferences ranging from Grand Rounds and weekly case conferences to large society meetings

  • Online Webinars

  • Online Courses

  • Podcasts

  • Recorded videos

  • Online modules

  • Performance improvement 

  • Point of care learning such as that provided by UpToDate and OpenEvidence (both of whom are sponsors of this group - learn more at CME for physicians)



How do I get my course, conference, podcast, blog article, or other content CME accredited?


There are two main ways to get CME accreditation. The first is what most physicians with side gigs do, which is partnering with an Accredited CME provider such as an academic medical center, specialty societies, or CME companies. The second is to become an accredited CME provider yourself.



Pathway 1 (the simplest and what most physicians with side gigs do): Partner with an accredited CME provider


This is called joint providership, and involves you creating the content, while they take care of the logistics, including compliance, accreditation, and the issuance of CME credits. They can guide you through the process of accrediting your content for CME and help you navigate any nuances. Additionally, they are likely familiar with accreditation across different healthcare worker CME, and can help ensure that you check off all the boxes required by the various accreditation guidelines for each type of healthcare practitioner. 



Pathway 2: Have your organization become an accredited CME provider 


While this is a much more complicated process, if you’re regularly creating CME, it may be a route worth going down. Note that this is time consuming and can be expensive. We’ll touch upon it briefly below, but the details are beyond the scope of this article.



How can you make your organization become an accredited CME provider?


Confirm eligibility


  • You need to have an organization that provides educational content

  • Importantly, your organization can not be ruled an ineligible provider (determined by conflicts of interest or commercial relationships with entities related to healthcare products that are used on patients, like pharma or device companies)

  • You need the bandwidth, organization, and expertise to handle the infrastructure that comes with staying in compliance with CME policies and issuing CME to those applying

  • If you have questions about your eligibility, contact the accrediting organization (such as the ACCME or your state medical society), and ask



Apply through an accreditor such as the ACCME or your state medical societies


  • Typically you’ll want to have demonstrated the ability to host CME before

  • Meet core requirements: These include having a mission, documentation of experience, and evidence that you incorporate evaluations, needs assessments, and measures of outcomes, as well as pay attention to compliance.



Who are organizations I can partner with to get my content accredited so that I can provide CME credits for my material? 


Classically, these fall into a few categories. These include: 

  • Academic medical centers

  • Medical societies

  • Medical education companies



How do I choose which ones to partner with?


You’ll want to consider:

  • What types of CME credits they are able to provide, especially if you have non physicians who also need continuing education (it’s simpler to work with someone that can accredit the material for everyone)

  • What kind of material you are trying to get accredited and who others have used to get that type of content accredited

  • Costs and cost structure

  • Timeline provided

  • Their reputation and compliance history (be careful about new outlets)

  • Operational support given for every stage (some may just accredit, whereas others may provide more full service from start to finish)

  • The technology they have to integrate with your materials

  • Expertise with commercial support, if your content intersects with educational grants, funding, or other potential COI with finances or industry



Questions to ask potential partners


  • What types of accreditation do you offer?

  • Have you accredited activities like ours, and how many?

  • What services do you include?

  • What is your timeline for review?

  • How do you navigate conflicts of interest?

  • What outcomes reporting can you help provide?

  • Are there any technology integrations available?

  • What are your initial fees and ongoing costs?

  • Can you provide references from organizations similar to ours?



How much does it cost to get my CME accredited with an accredited CME provider?


Smaller engagements may only cost you a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, whereas larger conferences could cost you a five figure amount. The accredited company will likely charge you separate fees for different things, including accreditation oversight, compliance review, managing faculty disclosures, the system used to claim credits, CME certificates for learners, and outcomes reporting.


Different programs may have different cost structures ranging from flat fees for the activity to more complicated arrangements such as revenue sharing, per learner fees, or partnership or enterprise fees.



Conclusion


There are many reasons to seek CME accreditation for learning activities or experiences that you offer, whether it’s a conventional conference learning environment or whether it’s for other content. Most physicians pursuing side gigs will get their content accredited by partnering with an accredited ACGME provider, although there are also ways to become accredited yourself.



Related resources for physician creators


Sign up for our weekly newsletter for alerts about side gig opportunities, upcoming related free webinars, additional educational resources, and more.


Related PSG resources: 

bottom of page