Friday, March 27, 2020
Christopher Breedlove | LUCOM Marketing
On Monday, March 23, the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) Office of External Affairs and Faculty Development received official confirmation that LUCOM has earned Provisional Accreditation for a two-year continuing medical education (CME) term by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Through email correspondence, the office relayed that LUCOM demonstrated compliance with specific accreditation criteria and did not receive any citations during the review.
The ACCME leverages the power of education to drive quality into the medical profession and improve care for patients. Organizations that offer CME and receive accreditation status from the ACCME, create a framework that supports educators and healthcare professionals to achieve their full potential. This, ultimately, motivates clinicians to improve in their practice and as a result, optimize the care they provide to their patients in ever-changing healthcare environments.
“The fields of medicine and science never stop moving forward and neither should LUCOM’s physicians or affiliated healthcare partners,” said Ben Samuel, assistant director of clinical faculty development. “In receiving this status as an accredited provider of CME through the ACCME, physicians can count on a protected space for them to learn and teach without commercial influence.” Samuel’s role throughout the ACCME review process, in collaboration with his colleague, Kristin Hudson, affiliations coordinator, was to help streamline a cohesive system that would ensure the development of a robust CME program.
To get started right away in the two-year term, LUCOM’s Office of Faculty Development and External Affairs in collaboration with the Office of the Dean are busy making plans for the Fourth International Symposium on Growth Hormone and Metabolism, which will be hosted by LUCOM early this fall. The symposium is comprised of keynote sessions that present the latest cutting-edge research and is designed to offer comprehensive global discussions that address current issues in endocrinology related to growth hormone and metabolism. Additionally, LUCOM is building an Emergency Medicine Bedside Ultrasound Course for local clinicians and has plans to collaborate with the Lewis Gale Hospital System to support their CME needs. “This is only the beginning,” added Samuel.
“Accreditation by the ACCME is another step in the maturation of LUCOM. The team worked diligently over the past two years and to our delight, the accreditor for continuing medical education found no deficiencies in our application,” said Peter A. Bell, DO, MBA, FACOEP-dist, FACEP, dean of LUCOM. “I’m proud of the high-quality work consistently delivered by our faculty development and accreditation team.”