Analysis of ACCME 2018 Annual Report Data

Summary

The ACCME’s 2018 Annual Report data was released on July 17, 2019 and highlights continued growth and key takeaways. The report highlights information from approximately 1,750 accredited CME providers offering nearly 180,000 accredited CME activities. Analysis shows a noteworthy shift in data regarding participants at CME activities. For the first time, non-physician participants (57%) at CME activities have surpassed physician participants (43%). The number of educational activities and participants continue to increase and have each year since 2010. This growth and shift in learner type further supports the increasing availability of high-quality CME activities that promote interprofessional learning and continued evolution of healthcare, to support clinicians in delivering quality healthcare to patients. Three-year trend data below shows the number of physician participants has increased by 1.94% while the number of non-physician participants at CME activities has increased by 70.83% since 2016. While the number of physician learners has remained steady over the past three years, the number of non-physician participants from 2017-2018 increased by nearly 8 million learners, leading to the large spike in the summarized trend data.

2018 Stats

Accredited educational events grew by 9.94%; accredited activities have increased each year since 2010, with the increase from 2017 to 2018 being the largest to date.
Total physician participation at CME activities decreased while non-physician participation increased. Physician participation decreased by approximately 1% from 2017. Non-physician participation showed large growth with a 61% increase, a ten-fold increase from 2017.
Total commercial support contributions rose by 1.21%, an estimated $9 million.
Income from advertising/exhibits increased from $435 million in 2017 to $499 million in 2018, a 14.8% increase.
Total annual income for CME increased by $151 million, a 5.62% increase.
Of total attendance at CME activities, 43% of attendees were physicians and 57% were non-physicians (Note: This is the first time that non-physician participants have surpassed physician participants).