Originating from an informal cooperation of European accreditation bodies over the past few years a new association has recently been constituted: Continuing Medical Education- European Accreditors (CME-EA), a non- profit association of independent accreditors on the European international level. The new association is at the same time open to organisations or individuals involved in CME accreditation, not only on the European international, but also on the national level.
“Since CME accreditation is currently not regulated at all on the EU level, alignment of CME accreditation in Europe still represents a challenge”, says EBAC CEO Robert Schäfer, MD. “The absence of any EU regulation, on the other hand, offers the opportunity to the medical profession to identify the best of all systems to build a harmonised accreditation system in Europe.” Thus, according to its mission statement (www.cme-ea.eu), the new association wants to “harmonise CPD accreditation through dialogue and consensus”.
With this regard one of the first projects of CME-EA will be to organise a meeting to build consensus on a draft Consensus Statement of the International Academy for CPD Accreditation on funding and independence of CME on Nov. 7, 2017, in Dublin, just prior to the European CME Forum (see CME-EA press release).