Incentivising Higher Level Outcome Achievement in Continuing Education: Five-Year Experience from the ACCME Commendation Criteria

Figures & data

Figure 1. ACCME Menu of Criteria for Accreditation with Commendation.

Figure 2. Provider distribution by organisation type.

Table 1. Reported impact on outcomes related to an educational intervention.

Achieves Outcomes Criterion	Reported improvements
Improves Performance	60% percent of respondents described specific practice changes each had made, including application of new surgical techniques that improve outcomes and safety of care, purchased new equipment to facilitate ideal surgical practices, and increased ratings by colleague staff in the surgical suite related to communications.
	Majority of respondents implemented specific practice changes, including consulting and deploying evidence-based guidelines, utilising antimicrobial stewardship principles, and participating in a team-based approach to patient care.
	Majority of survey respondents made documented improvements to their practice, including reports documenting the implementation of new screening practices for population health and documented improved compliance with an appropriate diagnostic algorithm.
Improves Healthcare Quality	Increase in the evaluation of patients for primary hyperparathyroidism using renal imaging from 20% to 50% of patients.
	60% increase in patients receiving smoking cessation interventions over a one-year period compared to before the activity.
	Decrease in opioid prescription dispense rates and statistically significant 26% decrease in morphine milligram equivalents and 19% decrease in drug overdose deaths for county residents.
	Reduced new cases of Hepatitis A from 495 to 0 in just over two years.
Improves Patient/Community Health	Absolute increase in 7% of eligible patients in the community who received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, and 12% increase in patients 65 years and older who received the pneumococcal vaccine, exceeding the national pace of change.
	HIV viral load suppression rates improved to 90% in the patient population following the activities.
	Combo-3 (paediatric) community vaccination rate rose to 71%, a 7% improvement from baseline, reversing a preceding trend.
	Several stroke endpoints improved including discharge without disability, response time, efficiency of diagnosis and time to initial treatment.

Figure 3. Provider types applying for commendation.