Skip to main content
MDProgress
MDProgress

CME

The Future of Continuing Medical Education

The MDProgress Team
Last updated September 17, 2026
5 min read
The Future of Continuing Medical Education

On this page

The rules that govern your continuing medical education are changing in Canada and the US, and the direction is consistent: requirements are getting simpler, not harder. Most of the shift has already happened. The rest is dated and coming.

The one-day exam becomes optional

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) published its Standards for Continuing Certification, effective January 1, 2024, across all 24 US member boards. The standards replace "Maintenance of Certification" as the name, still allow a one-day exam, and require each board to assess its certified physicians at intervals no longer than five years. Assessment must now carry a formative emphasis: the goal is to help you learn, not only to test whether you passed. Longitudinal assessment now qualifies as an approach. Each of the 24 member boards sets its own phase-in schedule.

The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) put that standard into practice with its 5-Year Cycle, effective January 1, 2025. ABFM introduced longitudinal assessment in 2019, and roughly 34,000 family physicians have taken part in it since. Under the new cycle, you can meet the exam requirement by answering 25 open-book questions per quarter, totalling 300 questions over three to four years, making the mandatory one-day proctored exam optional. The full cycle requires 200 CME credits, at least 100 from Division I, plus 60 certification points through self-assessment or performance-improvement activities.

Fewer credits and shorter cycles in Canada

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) refreshed its Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Program in 2024. The refresh cut the credit requirement from 400 to 250 credits per five-year cycle and the annual minimum from 40 to 25 credits. The only fixed floor in the framework is now in Section 3 (Feedback and Improvement): at least 25 credits per cycle, including at least one activity where you receive feedback. Sections 1 and 2 carry no mandatory minimum. The College cited Fellow feedback as its rationale: the goal was to focus credit-earning on "meaningful learning opportunities."

Section 2 covers individual, unaccredited learning. Reading, online modules, and personal learning projects all qualify, with sub-caps by category (educational content review is capped at 30 unaccredited credits per year). Section 1 (Group Learning) covers conferences, journal clubs, and rounds; unaccredited Group Learning earns 0.5 credits per hour. Across both sections, the Royal College gives formal recognition to learning physicians were already doing outside accredited programs.

The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) simplified Mainpro+, effective December 16, 2024: every certified activity is now worth one credit per hour, replacing the two- and three-credit-per-hour formats that had existed. Those legacy programs expire by December 31, 2025. CFPC framed the change as reducing burden and respecting physicians' time. Current requirements for practising members remain 250 credits per five-year cycle, at least 25 per year, with at least 125 of those 250 as certified credits. At least 10 credits must be certified assessment credits.

The Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ) is replacing Quebec's five-year, 250-hour cycle with an annual one: 25 hours per calendar year, with up to 10 hours carrying forward to the following year. At least 2 must be category B. Category B activities are those that evaluate your own practice, and this requirement takes effect January 1, 2027; a further one hour per year in ethics and professional conduct starts January 1, 2028. If you are a Quebec physician, declare your 2024 to 2026 cycle hours by March 31, 2027.

AI, one rule and a lot of intent

CFPC alone has published a dated AI rule. Its standards for faculty-development Certified Activities, effective December 16, 2024, require providers to disclose to participants when and where AI tools were used to create content and how that content was checked for accuracy. Any AI-assisted material must be reviewed by a human expert for equity, accuracy, and bias mitigation. This applies to activities certified through a CACME-accredited university CPD office or directly through CFPC's CERT+ platform. CFPC's general Mainpro+ certification standards carry the same language without a specific date.

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) published its 2026-2029 strategic plan in May 2026, with personalized, insightful, and scalable education as one priority. ACCME commits to "explore, promote, and pilot" AI in continuing education, expand its credit-tracking platforms including CME Passport, and build a physician-facing mobile app for logging CME. The plan gives no dates for any of these objectives and describes its progress as "phased and flexible." No rule exists yet.

Consolidated tracking

ACCME's plan also names interoperability as a goal: enabling data sharing between accreditors and certifying and licensing bodies so credit earned with one can be visible to another. The stated aim is to reduce burdens on learners and strengthen data-driven regulatory oversight across certifying and licensing bodies. No implementation date is given. The fragmentation that most physicians manage today, maintaining separate portals for their provincial college, specialty board, and state licensing board, remains the practical reality while that goal is being worked toward.

What stays the same

Every rule across every jurisdiction points at the same obligation: keep your knowledge current so that patient care reflects present evidence. The obligation itself is not going anywhere. Plan for the cycle your board has already dated, not the changes an accreditor is still describing. Beyond CFPC's AI disclosure requirement, everything else is direction. Direction does not change your credit count.

Sources