American Society of Plastic Surgeons Earns Top ACCME Accreditation Honor
Society receives “Accreditation with Commendation” from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has received "Accreditation with Commendation" from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the ACCME's highest level of accreditation status. This distinction grants the Society accreditation for six years, through March 2018, and recognizes ASPS as a leading provider of continuing medical education (CME) for the plastic surgery community.

"This is truly a testament to the quality of educational programs that we offer to our members," said ASPS President Malcolm Z. Roth, MD. "Commendation is rare -- fewer than 29 percent of the 690 ACCME-accredited CME providers have received this designation. It demonstrates that the ACCME has the highest confidence in the educational programming that ASPS offers and recognizes our efforts to collaborate with others in the CME community."

The ACCME grants commendation to providers that demonstrate compliance with all 22 of its evaluation criteria and its accreditation policies. To achieve commendation, ASPS demonstrated integration of CME into the process for improving professional practice, utilization of non-educational strategies to enhance change, collaboration with multiple stakeholders, participation in an institutional framework for quality improvement, and implementation of educational strategies to remove, overcome, or address barriers to physician change.

The ACCME rigorously reviewed ASPS' Self-Study Report, CME activities from April 2008-March 2012, and conducted an in-depth interview to audit the Society's activities. The entire process took more than one year to complete.

Physicians rely on accredited CME to help improve their practice and patient care. Participation in accredited CME helps physicians meet requirements for maintenance of licensure, maintenance of specialty board certification, credentialing, membership in professional societies, and other professional privileges. ACCME accreditation demonstrates that the CME provider is offering quality activities and products, which have been planned, implemented and evaluated in accordance with ACCME standards.