ACCME

What ACCME does

ACCME (Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education) is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1981 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It operates as the primary U.S. accreditation body for institutions that provide continuing medical education (CME) to physicians and other healthcare professionals, enforcing a voluntary peer-review system governed by its Criteria, Standards for Integrity and Independence, and Policies. Its customer base spans over 2,000 accredited providers including medical schools, state medical societies, national physician membership organizations, medical specialty societies, and healthcare delivery organizations, with accredited CME accepted by all U.S. state medical licensing boards and recognized in 30+ countries through WFME.

The core technology platform is PARS (Program and Activity Reporting System), a centralized web-based database that supports manual entry, Excel batch uploads, XML batch uploads via the MedBiquitous MEMS standard, and JSON-based web services APIs for LMS integration. CME Passport serves as the physician-facing credit monitoring portal with automatic reporting to collaborating licensing and certifying boards. ACCME Academy, the CME Provider Directory, Events Calendar, and the annual Learn to Thrive meeting and Accreditation Workshop round out the product portfolio. Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education extends the framework to team-based CE across health professions.

Revenue is generated through accreditation fees (pre-application, initial, reaccreditation, progress reports) and recurring annual provider fees from the 2,000+ accredited organizations. The organization employs 11-50 people and operates as a lean nonprofit, with reported engagement of 250,000 accredited educational activities and 22 million physician interactions in 2024. Distribution is direct via the accreditation process and self-serve through PARS and CME Passport, with state medical societies serving as colleague accreditors for community-level providers.

Name

ACCME

Legal name

Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education

Website

https://accme.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ACCME is a Chicago-based nonprofit founded in 1981 that accredits institutions providing continuing medical education to physicians, serving over 2,000 providers across medical schools, specialty societies, and healthcare organizations through its PARS platform and CME Passport portal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Education Accreditation

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

akta.pro primary industry

Continuing Education (CE/CPD) & Provider Accreditation Bodies (EDADACAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Programmatic Accreditors (Discipline/Profession-Specific) (EDADACAC), Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE) (EDAGANAJ)

Keywords

• Continuing medical education
• Medical education accreditation
• CME accreditation services
• Physician continuing education
• Healthcare professional education

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Accreditation Fees: ACCME charges fees for the accreditation process including pre-application fees, initial accreditation fees, reaccreditation fees, and progress report fees. These fees fund the organization's operations as a nonprofit accreditation body.
2. Annual Provider Fees: Accredited CME providers pay annual fees as part of their accreditation agreement to maintain their accredited status within the ACCME System.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels13 records

Core offering

ACCME is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 and based in Chicago, IL, that accredits institutions and organizations offering continuing medical education (CME) to physicians and other healthcare professionals. It operates technology platforms including PARS (Program and Activity Reporting System) for accredited providers and CME Passport for physicians to monitor earned credits, while enforcing Standards for Integrity and Independence in accredited CME through a voluntary peer-review system.

Product overview

ACCME is a nonprofit organization that operates a unified accreditation system for continuing medical education. The core portfolio consists of PARS (the Program and Activity Reporting System) as the primary data management platform for accredited providers, CME Passport as the physician-facing credit tracking portal, ACCME Academy for educational development, the CME Provider Directory, and Events Calendar for training/workshops. ACCME Academy and Certificate Programs support professional development, while Learn to Thrive (annual meeting) and the Accreditation Workshop provide in-person training. The accreditation framework includes Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education, Accreditation with Commendation (six-year term), and the comprehensive Rules (Criteria, Standards, Policies) governing CME providers. Together, these products form an integrated ecosystem for accrediting, reporting, and improving continuing medical education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PARS (Program and Activity Reporting System) Online reporting platform used by ACCME-accredited CME providers to enter, manage, and submit activity and credit data, enabling centralized tracking of physician participation in accredited CME.
• CME Passport Personalized dashboard for physicians and healthcare professionals to monitor CME/MOC credits earned through ACCME-accredited activities, reducing the administrative burden of tracking multiple provider certificates.
• ACCME Academy Online learning platform providing educational resources, self-study courses, and training materials designed to help CME providers understand and meet ACCME accreditation requirements.
• CME Provider Directory Public directory enabling physicians and other stakeholders to search for and identify ACCME-accredited CME providers.
• Events Calendar Public-facing calendar listing CME events, accreditation workshops, and educational opportunities for providers and physicians.
• Accreditation Workshop Educational workshop designed to help prospective and current CME providers understand ACCME's accreditation process, requirements, and Standards for Integrity and Independence.
• Learn to Thrive Educational initiative supporting CME provider professional development through curated resources, learning activities, and self-assessment.
• Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education Multi-professional accreditation framework that allows organizations to offer continuing education for multiple healthcare professions (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, etc.) through a single accreditation process.
• Accreditation with Commendation Highest tier of ACCME accreditation awarded for a six-year term to CME providers that demonstrate compliance with commendation criteria for educational excellence and leadership.
• CE Educator's Toolkit Resource toolkit providing continuing education educators with practical tools and guidance for planning, designing, and evaluating accredited educational activities.
• Certificate Programs Structured certificate offerings within ACCME Academy that enable CME providers to demonstrate proficiency in specific accreditation-related competencies.

Quantifiable outcome

• 250,000 accredited educational activities and 22 million physician interactions reported in 2024
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACCME is a founding member of Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™, which established the first standards for continuing education planned by the team, for the team. This framework has become a national and international model for promoting the development of IPCE programs specifically designed to improve interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) in healthcare delivery.
• State Medical SocietiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACCME collaborates with US state and territory medical societies to facilitate the accreditation of local CME providers and support community-based CME for clinicians. These societies serve as ACCME-recognized accreditors.
• World Federation for Medical Education (WFME)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACCME is among the first four organizations recognized by the World Federation for Medical Education's CPD Recognition Programme. This international recognition establishes substantive equivalency framework based on shared principles.
• State Medical Licensing BoardscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAll state medical licensing boards have access to CME credit data reported for their licensees through ACCME's centralized reporting system. Physicians no longer need to self-report or send transcripts to boards - credits are automatically shared.
• Certifying BoardscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACCME's centralized reporting system is available to collaborating certifying boards. Physicians do not need to report CME or MOC credits to certifying boards that collaborate with ACCME.
• International AccreditorscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACCME works collaboratively with healthcare leaders and other stakeholders around the world to respond to the changing health environment and leverage the power of education to improve care for patients. This includes advancing education addressing clinician well-being to public health priorities.
• American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Member BoardscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACCME collaborates with certifying boards including ABMS member boards to enable accredited CME providers to register activities for MOC through PARS. This simplifies the process for physicians to earn MOC credits through accredited CME.
• Innovation PartnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSelect group of accredited CME/CE providers who play a key role in advancing a national system for seamless credit reporting. These partners help pilot and test new features and processes in the ACCME system.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP): AAFP operates its own CME credit system (AAFP Prescribed Credit) accredited by the AAFP Commission on Continuing Medical Education. It is a parallel CME accreditor and credit-issuing body serving family physicians, comparable to ACCME as a CME governance organization.
• American Osteopathic Association (AOA): The AOA accredits osteopathic continuing medical education (AOA Category 1-A and 1-B) as a parallel system to ACCME. It serves as the analogous accreditation body for DOs and is directly comparable as a physician-specialty CME accreditor.
• American Medical Association (AMA): AMA owns the AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ system, which is the dominant physician CME credit designation in the US. It collaborates with ACCME for credit designation and represents a closely related CME standards/credit authority.
• World Federation for Medical Education (WFME): WFME recognizes accreditors worldwide through its CPD Recognition Programme and is a strategic partner of ACCME. It functions as an umbrella/meta-accreditor and is directly comparable as a governing authority in medical education accreditation.
• American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS): ABMS member boards collaborate with ACCME to enable MOC credit through accredited CME. While ABMS certifies physicians rather than accredits CME providers, it is a tightly coupled standards organization comparable to ACCME's role in physician credentialing.

Regional players

• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada: Royal College accredits CPD programs for Canadian specialists and is recognized internationally as a peer accreditor. It is the closest international analogue to ACCME for physician continuing education accreditation.
• European Accreditation Council for CME (EACCME): EACCME is the pan-European body that accredits CME events across multiple European countries under the UEMS. It is a directly comparable regional CME accreditor for international physicians.

Direct peers

• Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education: Joint Accreditation was co-founded by ACCME and partner organizations to accredit interprofessional continuing education. It operates as a peer accreditor in the IPCE space and directly competes for healthcare delivery organization accreditation customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/accme
• Facebookfacebook.com/AccreditedCME
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/accreditedcme
• Instagraminstagram.com/accreditedcme
• Xx.com/accreditedcme

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about ACCME