In December of 2020 the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) announced new Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. These Standards are designed to ensure that accredited continuing medical education (CME) continues to provide healthcare professionals with accurate, balanced, and evidence-based information that supports safe and effective patient care.

The new standards evolve out of the Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure Independence in CME Activities℠, which were first adopted in 1992 and then updated in 2004. The new standards were developed over the course of two years through dialogue and consensus-building with stakeholders with the goal of streamlining, clarifying, and modernizing the Standards, and to ensure their continued relevance and effectiveness in the changing healthcare environment.

The new Standards have been adopted by the below accrediting bodies that represent multiple health professions:

• Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)
• Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)
• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
• American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
• Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry’s Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (ARBO/COPE)
• Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education