Policies and Procedures for the Joint Providership of CME Activities
Definition
The ACCME defines joint providership as the providership of a CME activity by one accredited and one non-accredited organization. The ACCME also states that in joint providership, a commercial interest cannot assume the role of the non-accredited entity. The ACCME defines a commercial interest as “any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.”
The roles and responsibilities of each organization are spelled out in a Joint Providership Agreement.
ACCME Requirements for Joint Providership
In joint providership, the ACCME permits “either the accredited provider or its non-accredited joint provider to control the identification of CME needs, the determination of educational objectives, the selection and presentation of content, the selection of all persons and organizations that will be in a position to control CME content, the selection of educational methods, and the evaluation of the activity.”
The accredited provider, Atlanta Progressive CME, must take responsibility for the activity when presented in joint providership with a non-accredited entity. The accredited provider must inform the learner of the joint providership relationship through the use of the appropriateaccreditation statement on printed or web-based jointly-provided activities.
Atlanta Progressive CME Requirements for Joint Providership
Atlanta Progressive CME requires that all activities which it jointly provides comply with the accreditation requirements and policies of the ACCME as well as the Standards for Commercial Support, andwith the requirements of the American Medical Association Physician Recognition Award.
Consistent with the statement above, all non-accredited applicants must submit activities for consideration which are consistent with the mission of Atlanta Progressive CME and which conform to the accepted definition of CME content and CME Clinical Content Validation as defined by ACCME.
Atlanta Progressive CMEretains final authority for the following:
- Approval of all printed joint accreditation and disclosure statements to the learner.
- Approval of needs assessment and gap analysis information.
- Approval of learning objectives and instrument(s) for learning measurement.
- Approval and signing of all commercial support agreement(s.)
- Access and maintenance of all attendance records.
Application for Joint Providership
Non-accredited organizations seeking joint providership must complete the joint providership application available on the APCME website ( The application must be completed in full and returned early in the planning process to allow for necessary changes, revisions, or input into the planning and implementation process. A minimum of six months lead-time is suggested for new applicants. Atlanta Progressive CME reserves the right to accept or deny joint providership of individual CME activities at its own discretion and further elaborates upon specificterms in the Joint Providership Agreement.
A Joint Providership Fee is negotiated based on an activity-by-activity basis as indicated on the APCME website:
Revised 12/14