Medical Education

CME Outfitters is Now Jointly Accredited!

Joint Accreditation: Advancing education for the team, by the team

As of July 26, 2021, CME Outfitters has taken the exciting step forward in our mission to provide innovative education designed by the team, for the team to health care providers around the world by becoming jointly accredited for Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE). Joint Accreditation seeks to assure the medical community and the public that CME Outfitters provides relevant, effective, practice-based education for the health care team.

CME Outfitters has been an accredited provider for physicians, nurses and pharmacists since 2004 and has been awarded Accreditation with Commendation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) since 2006. Achieving Joint Accreditation offers us the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited by multiple accrediting bodies to provide continuing education to the interdisciplinary health care team through a single, unified process and set of accreditation standards. CME Outfitters is now able to award credit from:

  • Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)
  • Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)
  • American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
  • American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA)
  • American Dental Association (ADA)
  • Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (COPE)
  • American Psychological Association (APA)
  • Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
  • Board of Certification for the Athletic Trainer (BOC)
  • Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR)

CME Outfitters also holds independent accreditations with the California Board of Registered Nursing and the Dental Board of California.

What is Joint Accreditation?

Joint Accreditation is the leading model of interprofessional collaboration that helps improve health care through continuing education designed for the team, by the team.

Benefits of Joint Accreditation:

Jointly accredited providers may choose to award single profession or interprofessional continuing education credit (IPCE) to a wide range of healthcare professionals without needing to obtain separate accreditations:

  • Athletic trainers |BOC
  • Dentists | ADA
  • Dietitians | CDR
  • Nurses | ANCC
  • Optometrists | COPE
  • PAs | AAPA
  • Pharmacists | ACPE
  • Physicians | ACCME
  • Psychologists | APA
  • Social workers | ASWB

Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™ is the first and only process in the world offering this benefit.

  • Designed for health care education organizations in which the health care team is a focus.
  • Carries the full weight of all nine accreditations, but results in having only one regulatory agency with which to relate.
  • Eliminates all special requirements of each of the nine agencies in favor of one set of criteria for Joint Accreditation and one set of files, policies, and procedures.

What is Interprofessional Continuing Education™ (IPCE)?

Interprofessional Continuing Education™ is when members from two or more professions learn with, from, and about each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.


Who plans IPCE activities?

Joint Accreditation criteria require that IPCE activities be planned by and for the interdisciplinary health care team. For activities focused on multiple professions, the planning team should reflect the professions and credit types being targeted by the activity.  To further support CME Outfitters’ accreditation services for non-accredited organizations, KnowFully Learning Group and CME Outfitters welcome the addition of Scott J. Hershman, MD, FACEHP, CHCP as Manager of Strategic Partnerships. Dr. Hershman’s passion for continuing education is evidenced by over 15 years of dedication to the continuing professional development of the healthcare team, by the healthcare team. As a seasoned medical educator, he has served on the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s Accreditation Review Committee (ARC) and has volunteered with many organizations in the continuing healthcare education space.

In this new role, Dr. Hershman will utilize Joint Accreditation to further meet the needs of existing clients as well as provide the groundwork to work with new educational partners. In addition to broadening the target audience of the educational initiatives, Joint Accreditation will support Dr. Hershman’s work by facilitating improved communication amongst the health care team to ultimately improve patient outcomes.  Contact Dr. Hershman at hershmans@cmeoutfitters.com or  (614) 328.4500 ext. 509.

Learn more about CME Outfitters’ accreditation and services here.