Content area
Full Text
Overview of the Alliance
The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions (ACEhp) is a community of professionals dedicated to accelerating excellence in health care performance through education, advocacy, and collaboration (Sidebar ). This professional membership organization was originally created as the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education in 1974 and was dedicated to finding ways "to make CME more efficient and effective" (Felch, 1996 , p. 3). The organization's growth and annual meetings reflected the interest and commitment of educators, researchers, publishers, industry supporters, and learners. The Alliance's hallmark mission and vision consistently fostered the design and outcomes of continuing education (CE) for physicians and other health care professionals. The creation of the Alliance Competencies for Continuing Medical Education (CME) Professionals (Balmer, Bellande, Addleton, & Havens, 2011 ) identified eight competency areas of specific knowledge and skills necessary to be an effective CME professional.
In 2012, the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education, now the ACEhp, initiated a new strategic plan that linked education, performance improvement, research, collaboration, and advocacy into a 3-year plan of action. It also articulated the value of collaboration across health professions and the role of CE educators in providing profession-specific and interprofessional CE. The Alliance, as convener and advocate, now provides a forum for all health professions to discuss and coordinate education and performance improvement initiatives that can improve patient care. The Alliance competencies have been revised and broadened to be inclusive of all CE professionals in health care. These National Learning Competencies provide a starting point for collaborative discussion.
The...