Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education

Requirements designed to ensure that accredited continuing education serves the needs of patients and the public, is based on valid content, and is free from commercial influence. The Standards comprise five standards: Ensure Content is Valid; Prevent Commercial Bias and Marketing in Accredited Continuing Education; Identify, Mitigate, and Disclose Relevant Financial Relationships; Manage Commercial Support Appropriately; Manage Ancillary Activities Offered in Conjunction with Accredited Continuing Education. Released in December 2020, the Standards for Integrity and Independence replace the Standards for Commercial Support. The Standards have been adopted by Joint Accreditation and the co-founders of Joint Accreditation (ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC), as well as other accrediting bodies in the health professions.

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Explore these resources for registering your activities and reporting learner credits for MOC/CC. The same procedures apply for JA-accredited and ACCME-accredited organizations.

Annual Reporting Information and Resources

Joint Accreditation uses the information collected in JA-PARS to support reviews that are part of the process for reaccreditation and progress report reviews. In addition, Joint Accreditation uses data from JA-PARS to produce reports as a service to jointly accredited providers and other stakeholders.

What do I have to report by April 1, 2024?
To fulfill your annual reporting requirement, there are five steps to complete by April 1, 2024:
  1. Accept the terms for the Joint Accreditation annual agreement, located on the dashboard in JA-PARS under the “Agreement” page. Each year, all jointly accredited providers are asked to accept the annual agreement regarding data submission and compliance with Joint Accreditation policies and procedures.
  2. Enter all activities that started in 2023, and close all of them that also ended in 2023.
  3.  If you provide enduring material activities, update the total learner counts as of December 31, 2023. Enduring materials should remain open until the end date, which may be up to three years from the start date.
  4. Complete and submit your program summary, located on the dashboard in JA-PARS.
  5. Review and update your contact information. You can do this by clicking “Back to Accreditation Management” in the top right section of the JA-PARS dashboard.

Questions? We’re happy to help. Please contact  [email protected].

Resources

Probation is given to jointly acredited providers that have serious problems meeting the Joint Accreditation requirements. Providers on Probation are required to submit progress reports. Jointly accredited providers may have their status changed to Probation if their progress reports do not demonstrate correction of noncompliance issues. Most providers on Probation implement improvements quickly, return to a status of Joint Accreditation, and sustain compliance. Providers cannot remain on Probation for longer than two years.