accreditation

CME Accreditation a First for UConn School of Medicine

For the first time, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education has awarded the UConn School of Medicine accreditation with commendation.

The distinction puts UConn’s medical school in a select group, as only 35 percent of American CME organizations have commendation status. It’s the ACCME’s highest level of accreditation.

“This reflects our state-of-the-art educational programming with educational and compliance rigor from our CME office,” says Dr. Suzi Rose, senior associate dean for education. “We are committed to excellence in education across the continuum of medical education and to fostering a culture of high quality educational offerings that promote lifelong learning, active learning and innovative educational pedagogies and programming.”

The ACCME oversees all continuing medical education for physicians and nurse practitioners for the entire country. There are an estimated 2,000 ACCME-accredited entities, academic and non-academic, that are credentialed by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education.

Dr. Leighton Huey, Christine McNally, Amy King and Barbara Caron led the UConn Health CME office in preparation for the ACCME’s site visit, including a review of all programs approved for granting accredited CME credit as part on an intensive self-study.

“The main issues involved in the review were having the Office of Community and Continuing Medical Education assure that each department or division or course where continuing medical education is involved based its educational offerings on the educational needs of its learners, and that the educational programs are free from commercial bias,” says Huey, professor of psychiatry and associate dean for community and continuing medical education.

The accreditation with commendation from the ACCME is good through July 2021.

CME accredit certificate
The UConn School of Medicine earns a six-year accreditation with commendation for the first time.

National Quality Measure for UConn Health Breast Program

NAPBC plaque 2015
UConn Health’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center has an accredited breast health program. (Janine Gelineau/UConn Health photo)

UConn Health’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center is celebrating its newly accredited breast program.

The National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers has awarded UConn Health’s cancer center full three-year accreditation, a formal acknowledgment from the American College of Surgeons of UConn Health’s commitment to providing high-quality evaluation and management of patients with breast disease.

The distinction “is only given to those centers that have voluntarily committed to provide the highest level of quality breast care and that undergo a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance,” according to an NAPBC news release. “A breast center that achieves NAPBC accreditation has demonstrated a firm commitment to offer its patients every significant advantage in their battle against breast disease.”

Standards required for accreditation include proficiency in center leadership, clinical management, research, community outreach, professional education, and quality improvement.

“The breast program is judged and evaluated, not only by the excellence of its doctors, but also the ability of the entire patient care staff as well as clinical trial, outreach and research staff to address the multitude of issues that face women with breast health concerns,” says Dr. Susan Tannenbaum, Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center director of medical oncology. “It additionally means that the program is actively working towards improving the breast health of future generations as well as working towards reducing disparities in our patient populations.”

The surveyor’s report gave UConn Health high marks for its multidisciplinary care, an institutional commitment to basic science research, and strong hospital administrative support for the cancer program.

“Accreditation is something that informs patients or supporters of our program, that we are recognized as a dedicated and capable program,” Tannenbaum says. “In getting our accreditation, our breast program was acknowledged to have all those elements needed, but recognized as well to have many things in place to be used as an example of what others should look at for best practices in a breast program, and that is an accomplishment we are all proud of.”

More information about the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers is available at www.accreditedbreastcenters.org.

 

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