About the Rule
Rationale
Collaboration among people and organizations builds stronger, more empowered systems. This criterion recognizes providers that apply this principle by building collaborations with other organizations that enhance the effectiveness of the CME program in addressing community/population health issues.
Critical Elements
- Creates or continues collaborations with one or more healthcare or community organization(s) AND
- Demonstrates that the collaborations augment the provider’s ability to address population health issues
The Standard
- Demonstrate the presence of collaborations that are aimed at improving population health with four examples from the accreditation term.
Key Concepts and Definitions
Key Concept
This criterion requires that a provider collaborates with another entity to address issues in the population of individuals targeted by the healthcare system, who are or could be, the patients of the learners. While CME that supports learners in improving their own health and wellness is within the definition of CME content, it does not meet the expectations regarding population health in the “Collaborates Effectively” criterion for commendation.
For the Collaborates Effectively Criterion, the provider must demonstrate how collaborations augment its ability to address population health issues, may or may not demonstrate these approaches with examples of CME activities.
The Collaborates Effectively Criterion requires that the accredited provider work with outside organizations to more effectively address population health issues. Collaborations should be between distinctly different organizations, and not, for example, between departments within a hospital. The concept of an “outside organization” could extend, however, to different schools within a healthcare system or different subsidiaries of a parent organization.
