AOE Compliance Connection

Welcome to the October 2026 edition of AOE’s Monthly Newsletter. This edition of AOE Compliance Connection includes newly released AI resources from the ACCME, a new Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited CE review series, a Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice (JIEP) call for papers, and recent AOE team updates.

In addition to AOE’s monthly newsletter, we share weekly compliance tips every Monday here. Check them out for bite-sized advice your team can use for ongoing compliance success.

Happy Fall!

Last month, the ACCME announced the launch of two new AI-related resources: an Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Accredited CE web page (touted as the organization’s “central hub” for all things AI) as well as a best practices and guidelines document titled Content Validity for AI-Enabled Clinical Learning. This is recommended reading for all accredited providers—so take a peek.

*This is the first installment of a five-part series.

The current Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education were released in December 2020 with required implementation by January 1, 2022. (They replaced the Standards for Commercial Support). They are recognized and upheld by multiple boards in addition to the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), including ACPE, AAFP, ANCC, and Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education (view additional accrediting bodies here).

Even though we’re a few years past their debut, and there are “only” five of them, the Standards continue to challenge providers on compliance and best practice grounds. Providers must demonstrate ongoing compliance with the Standards to achieve and maintain accreditation, so it’s critical that your internal policies and procedures support smooth, consistent compliance.

With accreditation at stake, it’s a good practice for CE teams (of all types, sizes, and even records of excellence) to engage in a periodic “Standards refresher.” Over the next few months, AOE will highlight each Standard and areas to stay vigilant for non-compliance risks.

Standard 1: Ensure content is valid.

The first Standard pertains to content validity. As sourced from the ACCME:

Accredited providers are responsible for ensuring that their education is fair and balanced and that any clinical content presented supports safe, effective patient care.

1. All recommendations for patient care in accredited continuing education must be based on current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning, while giving a fair and balanced view of diagnostic and therapeutic options.
2. All scientific research referred to, reported, or used in accredited education in support or justification of a patient care recommendation must conform to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
3. Although accredited continuing education is an appropriate place to discuss, debate, and explore new and evolving topics, these areas need to be clearly identified as such within the program and individual presentations. It is the responsibility of accredited providers to facilitate engagement with these topics without advocating for, or promoting, practices that are not, or not yet, adequately based on current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning.
4. Organizations cannot be accredited if they advocate for unscientific approaches to diagnosis or therapy, or if their education promotes recommendations, treatment, or manners of practicing healthcare that are determined to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits or are known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients.

Providers can likely agree that these validity markers are valuable and true for continuing medical education. However, complying with them is another matter. Here are some helpful tips to avoid non-compliance and risky practices:

Create a consistent procedure to review educational content for validity against the Standard 1 requirements, as well as document the review. By reviewing educational content against Standard 1.1 – 1.4 requirements, your team can help to ensure that all content is valid. By documenting these reviews, your team can help to ensure you always have a paper trail on file to demonstrate compliance for your accreditation board. If you don’t have a current document/template, you can use or model one on the ACCME’s sample clinical content review form here.

If you are experimenting with AI tools, make sure you are following the ACCME’s Guidance on the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Accredited Continuing Education (CE). First, this will help your team to avoid prohibited or high-risk uses (like generating diagnostic or treatment recommendations without clinical validation) that directly threaten compliance with Standard 1.1, 1.2 and 1.4. Second, you’ll ensure you’re following all elements of the 7-point Guidance (many of which impact content validity and require you to transparently disclose AI use, depending on how you’re using it in education). Read the full Guidance here, and more specifically, check out the ACCME’s recently released Content Validity for AI-Enabled Clinical Learning resource here.

Carefully vet proposed topics and drafted content to identify new and evolving topics, and position them accordingly. This is especially relevant for providers with robust annual meetings/conferences, and CE teams tasked with sorting through a mountain of abstracts (we feel your pain, as we work “in the trenches” everyday). Make sure you stay alert and discern new/evolving topics that come across your desk, as to comply with Standard 1.3. If anything delves into new/evolving topics and is “not, or not yet, adequately based on current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning,” your options are to 1) clearly identify these sessions/presentations for your audience, or 2) consider offering the session/presentation in a non-accredited capacity.

Critical introspection and review of educational partners, individuals in control of content selection, and organizational priorities. If you feel your organization is producing education that includes “recommendations, treatment, or manners of practicing healthcare that are determined to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits or are known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients,” you need to take a hard look at your current program. Is it possible you’ve consciously or unconsciously compromised on validity and patient safety to prioritize working with certain education partners or individuals? Is it possible your individuals in control of content currently don’t have the bandwidth to adequately screen content for risky, dangerous, or ineffective patient treatment recommendations right now? If so, are there ways to immediately course-correct? Doing so will help to ensure you comply with Standard 1.4.

Join us next month for a refresher on Standard 2!

If your team requires additional support with Standards instruction/compliance, please contact the AOE team here to discuss ways we can help.

In case you missed it: the Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice (JIEP) is now accepting paper submissions for a special issue on Advancing Healthcare through Interprofessional Continuing Education Initiatives. To note, the issue “highlights interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) as a strategy for advancing collaborative practice, team-based care, and system-level improvement.” JIEP will accept a variety of article types, and the editors “especially encourage manuscripts that describe how IPCE moves beyond attendance or shared content delivery to intentionally support interprofessional collaborative practice.”

Visit this page for more details on the issue and submission guidelines.

The deadline is March 31, 2027.

Please join us in welcoming new Accreditation Specialist, Ashley Unrein, to the AOE team! Ashley has a strong background in project coordination, analysis, and compliance oversight. Her experience as a Director at Northeastern Junior College developed efficient workflow, organization, documentation, and task management skills. Ashley earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Colorado State University.

We are also excited to welcome back Program Manager, Kelsey Huss, upon her return from maternity leave. Congratulations to the Huss family on their adorable new addition, Bennett! We are grateful to have Kelsey back in our day-to-day operations.

As ever, AOE is committed to the success of each of our clients. As our team shifts and evolves, we look forward with excitement to helping each of AOE’s clients and staff members navigate successful futures in accredited continuing education.

• Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Continuing Medical Education (MAACME) 2026 Annual Conference
  October 28 - 29, 2026, Blue Bell, PA
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• ANCC Magnet & Pathway Conference 2026
  October 29 – 31, 2026, Chicago, IL
  Read More >>
• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Annual Meeting: Learn Serve Lead 2026
  November 6 - 10, 2026, Anaheim, CA
  Read More >>
• ACPE Continuing Education (CE) Conference
  November 16 – 18, 2026, Chicago, IL
  Read More >>
• Alliance Annual Conference 2027
  February 18 - 21, 2027, Orlando, FL
  Read More >>