Graham T. McMahon

Introduction: The continuing professional development (CPD) and continuing education (CE) workforce play a critical role in maintaining standards in accredited health care education programs. However, the relationship between workforce characteristics and accreditation outcomes remains unclear. This study characterizes the CPD/CE workforce and examines associations with accreditation outcomes. Methods: We conducted a national survey of providers accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education, and ACCME-Recognized State Medical Society Accreditors. Items addressed demographics, salaries, education, core functions, and staffing changes. We assessed associations between staffing metrics (eg, staff turnover, program growth, full-time equivalents [FTE]) and accreditation outcomes (eg, commendation). Results: Of 1470 providers, 524 responded (36%). Programs averaged 4.77 FTEs and had modest growth (0.24 new positions). Half of staff time was allocated to operations. Median salaries were $90,000 to $105,000 for leaders/managers and $60,000 to $75,000 for coordinators. Programs accredited with commendation had slower growth (−0.09), more FTEs (+3.96), higher total salaries (+$540,042), and higher salary per FTE (+$31,817), all P < .01. Staffing metrics did not differ substantially for programs required to remediate following reaccreditation review. Discussion: Accredited CPD/CE in the United States is supported by a growing workforce that is predominantly operational in focus. Workforce scale and compensation are strongly associated with program output, whereas relationships with commendation are more nuanced and may reflect the greater complexity and compliance burden of larger organizations. Sustaining quality and meeting evolving learning expectations may require deliberate investment in workforce skill mix, evaluation capacity, and educational innovation.

Introduction: Continuing education (CE) professionals play a central role in maintaining the integrity, independence, and operational quality of accredited CE programs, yet the workforce lacks standardized mechanisms to demonstrate applied competence in accreditation and data stewardship. Methods: The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education developed two certificate programs, Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited CE and Data Management in Accredited CE, each culminating in a competency-based, remotely proctored assessment. Assessment development included blueprinting, expert review, pilot testing with novices and CE professionals, classical item analysis, and empirical performance-based standard setting using pilot performance data. Each assessment included scenario-based multiple-choice items and a single open-response item. Reliability and item performance were evaluated in the initial operational cohort. Results: In the first cohort, 118 participants completed the Standards assessment and 76 completed the Data Management assessment. Mean scores were 80.1 (range 29–97) and 84.9 (range 46–99), with 80% and 84% meeting the predetermined passing standard. Internal consistency was high for the Standards assessment (KR-20 0.89) and acceptable for Data Management (KR-20 0.69). Open-response responses showed consistent identification of core problems but greater variability in systems-level planning and communication strategies. Learner feedback was positive, with >80% indicating they would recommend the programs and reported difficulty consistent with applied, judgment-based assessment. Discussion: Early findings provide validity evidence supporting certificate-based assessments as a practical approach to verifying applied competence among CE professionals and may help professionalize the CE workforce by offering defensible, role-specific markers of competence.

Introduction: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into health professions education, yet its application in continuing professional development (CPD) oversight remains underexplored. Accrediting bodies play a critical role in ensuring that continuing education is trustworthy, unbiased, and aligned with professional standards. Methods: This perspective synthesizes current literature and professional guidance to examine potential applications of AI in accreditation oversight. The analysis considers how AI could support efficiency, consistency, and insights across regulatory functions, while emphasizing the continued necessity of human judgment and governance. Results: Opportunities for accreditor use of AI include screening reaccreditation materials, identifying high-risk activities for audit, synthesizing national trends, linking participation data with certification and licensure systems, and assessing providers' responsible use of AI tools. A structured framework of opportunities and risks highlights the promise of efficiency and data integration alongside challenges related to accuracy, equity, transparency, security, and public trust. Discussion: Accrediting systems have an opportunity to model responsible AI use in ways that advance professional learning and safeguard the integrity of CPD. The responsible integration of AI, guided by principles of accountability, transparency, equity, and security, can help ensure that oversight is both efficient and trustworthy, while reinforcing the credibility of CPD systems worldwide.

Accredited continuing medical education and continuing professional development (CME/CPD) form one of the world’s most extensive systems for improving healthcare quality, safety, and efficiency. In the United States, some 1,550 accredited providers deliver over 230,000 educational activities each year under the oversight of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Drawing on recent ACCME data, findings from the 2025 CPD/CE Workforce Survey, and outcomes from the Menu of Criteria for Accreditation with Commendation, this article presents evidence that accredited CME/CPD delivers measurable value for clinicians, organizations, and populations. Beyond enhancing knowledge and skills, accredited CME/CPD improves clinician performance, strengthens interprofessional teamwork, advances adoption of new science, and supports organizational goals for quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Accredited CME/CPD operates through deliberate instructional design, continuous outcomes measurement, and a professional workforce that integrates learning with improvement. When empowered by institutional leadership, CME/CPD professionals become strategic partners in achieving system-wide change. Accreditation standards ensure independence from commercial influence and foster public trust in the integrity of medical education. Programs recognized with commendation demonstrate quantifiable improvements in healthcare quality, patient outcomes, and community health. Far from a compliance requirement, accredited CME/CPD represents an ethical, scalable infrastructure that translates evidence into practice and sustains improvement across the healthcare system. By investing in accredited education, leaders reinforce workforce capability, teamwork, and patient safety - demonstrating that education, when structured and protected by accreditation, is a central driver of healthcare value and trust.

The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS), the regulatory agency for health professions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), sought to evolve the continuing professional development (CPD) ecosystem for the country and to promote the concept of life-long learning for healthcare professionals. SCFHS audited its own CPD accreditation system, reviewed internationally recognised CPD accreditation criteria, adopted a new set of standards, and trained its staff and provider community in their adoption. SCFHS also deployed a range of programmes and grants to support healthcare educators and researchers engaged in CPD. SCFHS recruited and trained new staff and deployed an updated IT system to support system change. The adopted criteria and standards now align with best practices, as outlined by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the International Academy for CPD Accreditation. More than 170 educators have participated in programmes to learn effective CPD pedagogy. The adoption of new standards resulted in 396 providers seeking provider accreditation. The number of CPD accredited activities produced in the KSA and approved by the SCFHS has grown from 1,000 activities in 2002 to 10,500 in 2022. With leadership support, regulatory evolution to align with best practices supports healthcare educators and effectively expands of the diversity and quality of CPD.

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the promise of addressing many of the numerous challenges healthcare faces, which include a growing burden of illness, an increase in chronic health conditions and disabilities due to aging and epidemiological changes, higher demand for health services, overworked and burned-out clinicians, greater societal expectations, and rising health expenditures. While technological advancements in processing power, memory, storage, and the abundance of data have empowered computers to handle increasingly complex tasks with remarkable success, AI introduces a variety of meaningful risks and challenges. Among these are issues related to accuracy and reliability, bias and equity, errors and accountability, transparency, misuse, and privacy of data. As AI systems continue to rapidly integrate into healthcare settings, it is crucial to recognize the inherent risks they bring. These risks demand careful consideration to ensure the responsible and safe deployment of AI in healthcare.

The devastating impact of COVID-19 has reshaped how we lead and train our future surgeons in the field of orthopaedics. Overnight, leaders in our field had to dramatically shift their mindset to continue to lead a hospital, department, journal, or residency or fellowship program in the face of an unprecedented level of adversity in the history of the United States. This symposium discusses the role of physician leadership during and after a pandemic, as well as the adoption of technology for training surgeons in the field of orthopaedics.

Continuing professional development (CPD) fosters lifelong learning and enables health care providers to keep their knowledge and skills current with rapidly evolving health care practices. Instructional methods promoting critical thinking and decision making contribute to effective CPD interventions. The delivery methods influence the uptake of content and the resulting changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behavior. Educational approaches are needed to ensure that CPD meets the changing needs of health care providers. This article examines the development approach and key recommendations embedded in a CE Educator's toolkit created to evolve CPD practice and foster a learning experience that promotes self-awareness, self-reflection, competency, and behavioral change. The Knowledge-to-Action framework was used in designing the toolkit. The toolkit highlighted three intervention formats: facilitation of small group learning, case-based learning, and reflective learning. Strategies and guidelines to promote active learning principles in CPD activities within different modalities and learning contexts were included. The goal of the toolkit is to assist CPD providers to design educational activities that optimally support health care providers' self-reflection and knowledge translation into their clinical environment and contribute to practice improvement, thus achieving the outcomes of the quintuple aim.

Since 2010, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) has maintained a database, the Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS), as a central repository for information about accredited education providers and their activities. The database has been expanded with the goal of creating an integrated, centralized data system. The ACCME collaboration since 2015 with specialty certifying boards served as a proof of concept that creating a centralized system that facilitates the free flow of data can provide value to physicians and medical regulatory boards. In 2018, ACCME undertook a pilot project that expanded reporting of credit for certifying boards to also include reporting of continuing medical education (CME) credit for 3 state medical licensing boards. Based on the success and lessons learned from the pilot, the ACCME decided to invest in building a new version of PARS to include any state medical licensing boards that chose to use the data. Launched in November 2021, the new PARS enables accredited organizations to enter CME credit data for all US physicians. Physicians may access their data via CMEPassport.org. By leveraging the power of a common database, regulatory bodies can demonstrate accountability, integrity, and transparency; reduce burdens on physicians; facilitate physicians’ commitment to lifelong learning; transform the perception of CME from a checkbox exercise to a currency for change; and contribute to advancing clinician practice and healthcare improvement for patients and communities throughout the country.