Joint Accreditation Implements New, Tiered Structure for Annual Fees

Beginning in 2020, Joint Accreditation is implementing a new, tiered structure for the annual fee. We are moving to a tiered fee structure in response to suggestions from the jointly accredited provider community and to better distribute the responsibility for sustaining our system more fairly among jointly accredited programs of different sizes. A tiered fee structure will enable us to improve services for you, better help you meet the needs of your learners, respond to your recommendations for the evolution of Joint Accreditation, and ensure that accredited continuing education (CE) and interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) are valued and effective in the rapidly evolving healthcare environment.

How the New Fee Structure Works

As shown in the table below, there are four fee tiers, from Tier 1, comprising the smallest programs, to Tier 4, comprising the largest programs. Program size is based on the average number of activities or learner interactions, whichever falls into the higher tier, over the past three years. We used data that jointly accredited providers entered into the Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) and JA-PARS to assign tiers. If your organization was newly accredited, we have used data from the most recent year to determine your tier, and the assigned tier for 2021 may change once data is entered for 2019.

To assist you with this transition, we have determined the fees for both 2020 and 2021. As well, we are offering you the option to pay your 2020 fee in two installments.

Tiered Fee Structure for Jointly Accredited Providers, 2020 and 2021

Why We Changed Our Fee Structure

Joint Accreditation is responsible for overseeing a national system offering organizations the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited to offer CE/IPCE for multiple professions through a single, unified application process, fee structure, and set of accreditation standards. We are committed to evolving Joint Accreditation to meet the needs and expectations of accredited organizations, clinicians, teams, and the public in the ever-changing healthcare environment. To do so, we must make substantial investments in our processes, data systems, and services. We operate with a closely balanced, conservative budget, using our revenues to achieve our strategic goals. After careful deliberations and analysis of our data, the Joint Accreditation executive leadership and governance bodies determined that implementing a tiered accreditation fee structure is necessary to allow us to continue to fulfill our strategic responsibilities.

How We Support You

The revenue from your annual fee helps achieve our shared strategic goal to advance healthcare education by the team, for the team. We are working hard to support you through these initiatives:

• Advocacy for the value of accredited CE/IPCE to health leaders, government agencies, and other stakeholders to encourage resourcing and recognition of jointly accredited programs
• Creation of IPCE credit; promoting the value of IPCE credit, attaining recognition from the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and Georgia Board of Pharmacy
• Inclusion of more accreditors, giving providers the option the option to include additional health professionals in their education programs without needing to attain separate accreditations
• Modifications to the Joint Accreditation Criteria to clarify and simplify requirements
• Implementation of a Menu of Criteria for Joint Accreditation with Commendation to encourage the continued evolution of IPCE programs and reward providers that implement exemplary practices and generate meaningful outcomes
• Safeguarding the integrity of accredited CE/IPCE, including review of the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure Independence in CME Activities„  to identify potential revisions that will assure their continued relevance and effectiveness

• Development and improvement of JA-PARS to enable providers to enter more learner data by profession, providing a more comprehensive picture of the scope of CE/IPCE

• Publishing articles and reports to communicate the value of CE/IPCE, including the first Joint Accreditation Annual Data Report, released in July

• Building a community of practice by convening leadership summits and disseminating resources to support jointly accredited providers and advance the field of IPCE

Thank you for your commitment to sustaining the accredited CE/IPCE community and to delivering high-quality education that makes a meaningful difference to clinicians and teams. Working together, we can continue to integrate IPCE into continuing professional development across all health professions and to support the delivery of effective, safe, and compassionate care for the patients, families, and communities we all serve.  

If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected].