Compliance Check: Joint Providership
Compliance Check is a series of quick tips to help accredited providers meet accreditation requirements.
What is joint providership?
Joint providership is an important part of ACCME’s system of accreditation, allowing accredited providers to significantly expand the availability of accredited continuing medical education/continuing education (CME/CE) by collaborating with nonaccredited organizations.
Who may offer joint providership?
Accredited providers in good standing may offer joint providership services.
Who is responsible for accreditation compliance in Joint Providership?
You are! The accredited provider is responsible to ACCME for meeting all of the requirements applicable to the activity, even those delegated to the Joint Provider.
Follow these four steps to comply with ACCME’s expectations and maintain your accreditation:
- Due Diligence: Before agreeing to collaborate with an organization, ask about their recent accreditation and activity history. Organizations that have lost or relinquished their own accreditation or have jointly provided with several organizations in a short period of time should be evaluated carefully.
- Content Validity: Carefully review the content of jointly provided activities. Exercise caution with organizations that offer or encourage unconventional approaches to medical care, since these organizations are typically ineligible for accreditation.
- Marketing Materials: Obtain, review, and approve all marketing materials, emails, and websites that list or refer to the activity, and continue to evaluate those sites and listings while they are active. Inappropriate use of logos, incentives, and gift cards have been associated with marketing materials created for jointly provided activities.
- Withdrawing from any Contract without Penalty: Empower yourself to withdraw accreditation from an activity at any time without penalty, since issues with compliance and content validity may only become apparent late in the activity development or deployment process.
Learn more about joint providership here.