ACLM earns joint accreditation status to accredit interprofessional continuing education

ST. LOUIS—The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) has announced it achieved Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE®), enabling the organization to independently accredit continuing education activities for multidisciplinary healthcare teams. The milestone is designed to advance how clinicians learn together, rather than through profession-specific training.

Joint accreditation provides a streamlined structure for interprofessional programs that target shared competencies across roles. It also signals that ACLM’s educational content meets rigorous expectations for quality, including scientific grounding and a focus on performance improvement and patient outcomes.

ACLM CEO John Findley, MD, CPE, framed the achievement as timely amid growing evidence that lifestyle-based interventions can meaningfully address chronic disease. He noted that, despite strong support for lifestyle medicine, implementation within routine care remains slow—an adoption gap that education can help close at scale. Independent accreditation, he said, expands ACLM’s capacity to deliver rigorous training intended to make whole-person, evidence-based care a first-line approach.

The new framework is positioned to support lifelong professional development across the clinical continuum. ACLM’s learning model emphasizes outcomes-driven design, linking educational strategies to changes in knowledge, skills, clinical decision-making, and ultimately measurable effects on patients.

According to ACLM, accredited IPCE activities are expected to strengthen collaboration through role clarity and teamwork. Programs must be evidence-based, balanced, and independent, with structured processes for identifying practice gaps and determining educational needs before planning activities.

ACLM also highlighted that IPCE requires interprofessional learning “with, from, and about” each other, aiming to improve coordination of care across physicians, nurses, dietitians, health coaches, and other team members. Such training is built to be scientifically valid and aligned with performance improvement goals.

ACLM Medical Director of Education Brenda Rea, MD, DrPH, PT, RD, DipABLM, FACLM, stated that joint accreditation strengthens leadership in lifestyle medicine education while streamlining accreditation workflow. She added that ACLM can more efficiently develop integrated learning for diverse health professionals.

Initially, ACLM plans to accredit its own IPCE activities while refining internal processes. The organization indicated it may consider accrediting external educational activities in the future as its infrastructure matures.