NCCN Continuing Education (CE) provides an educational platform for the application of, and science behind the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®).  Our program mission is to “improve patient outcomes in oncology by educating health care professionals on the application of evidence-based medicine through high quality educational initiatives.” NCCN believes that oncology care is best delivered by a multidisciplinary team. Thus, NCCN educates physicians, pharmacists, nurses, case managers, tumor registrars, and physician assistants.

NCCN is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education to physicians. NCCN was first accredited in 1998. Each subsequent reaccreditation survey (March 2001, July 2005, and November 2008) has provided NCCN with full (four-year) accreditation. In 2013, NCCN was granted its first Accreditation with Commendation (six-year term).  In 2011, NCCN gained accreditation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education credits for nurses (current accreditation period through 2015) and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) to provide continuing education for pharmacists (current accreditation period through 2017). NCCN also seeks additional accreditation for specific activities from other accrediting bodies, such as the Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) for case managers and National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) for tumor registrars.

When planning educational activities, NCCN remains compliant with the Standards for Commercial Support. All faculty and activity planners participating in NCCN continuing education activities are expected to disclose any conflict(s) of interest as defined by the ACCME’s, ANCC’s, and ACPE’s Standards for Commercial Support. All faculty presentations have been reviewed for adherence to the ACCME’s Criterion 7: The provider develops activities/educational interventions independent of commercial interests (SCS 1, 2, and 6) by experts on the topics. Full disclosure of faculty relationships will be made prior to the activity. The ACCME/ANCC/ACPE defines “conflict of interest” as when an individual has an opportunity to affect CE content about products or services of a commercial interest with which he/she has a financial relationship.