Mission & Responsibilities
Vision
A world where our community of educators supports healthcare professionals and teams in delivering optimal healthcare for all.
Mission
To assure and advance quality learning for healthcare professionals that drives improvements in patient care.
Leading Through Learning: Advancing Skills for Better Care; ACCME Strategic Goals 2026–2029
ACCME’s Strategic Goals for 2026-2029, Leading Through Learning: Advancing Skills for Better Care, set a clear direction for how we will strengthen trust, expand the reach and impact of accredited continuing education (CE), and advance learning as a force for better patient care. —supporting healthcare professionals, teams, and the systems in which they work.
ACCME’s 2026–2029 Strategic Goals focus on six priorities:
- Safeguard Trust, Fairness, and Professionalism
- Amplify Visibility and Value of Accredited Continuing Education
- Integrate Accredited Continuing Education as a Strategic Lever for System Performance and Workforce Well-being
- Harness Data and Technology for Personalized, Insightful, and Scalable Education
- Collaborate and Support Accredited CE Globally
- Build Research Capacity to Demonstrate the Impact of Accredited Continuing Education
We invite you to explore the full Strategic Goals and learn more about how ACCME will work with the community to advance learning and skills for better care over the next several years.
Our Primary Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of the ACCME are to:
- Serve as the body accrediting institutions and organizations offering continuing medical education.
- Serve as the body recognizing institutions and organizations offering continuing medical education accreditation.
- Develop criteria for evaluation of both educational programs and their activities by which ACCME and state accrediting bodies will accredit institutions and organizations and be responsible for assuring compliance with these standards.
- Develop, or foster the development of, methods for measuring the effectiveness of continuing medical education and its accreditation, particularly in its relationship to supporting quality patient care and the continuum of medical education.
- Recommend and initiate studies for improving the organization and processes of continuing medical education and its accreditation.
- Review and assess developments in continuing medical education’s support of quality health.
- Review periodically its role in continuing medical education to ensure it remains responsive to public and professional needs.
The ACCME fulfills its mission by maintaining a voluntary self-regulated system for accrediting CME providers and a peer-review process responsive to changes in medical education and the health care delivery system.
How We Make Accreditation Decisions
The ACCME has a rigorous, multilevel process for making accreditation and reaccreditation decisions. These decisions are made three times a year. Accreditation decisions are determined through a review by two ACCME committees: first, the Accreditation Review Committee (ARC), and second, the Decision Committee of the Board of Directors. Throughout the process, ACCME staff members provide support and guidance to committee members.
