OLD LYME, CT — DECEMBER 16, 2010 — Theodore Bruno, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Stacy Miller, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of The France Foundation, are pleased to announce that The France Foundation, based in Old Lyme, CT has received its accreditation with commendation as a provider of continuing medical education by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). ACCME accreditation with commendation, or Level 3, means that The France Foundation is among the top 8% of providers of continuing medical education (CME) in the United States. This accolade places The France Foundation in the top tier of all CME providers, including some of the nation’s most prestigious medical schools and professional medical societies. ACCME-accredited providers certify educational activities for AMA PRA (American Medical Association’s Physician’s Recognition Award) Category 1 Credit™. The AMA PRA is utilized by state licensing boards and boards of medical specialties to re-license physicians and re-certify them in their areas of specialty. Earlier this year, The France Foundation also received the highest level of accreditation for its pharmacist education programs as an accredited provider of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).

According to national continuing medical education advisor, Steve Passin, president of Steve Passin & Associates, “The France Foundation’s entry into the vaulted ranks of Level 3 accredited organizations in the United States places them among those medical educators in the country that have demonstrated the highest levels of educational acumen based on quality and patient safety parameters.”

Ms. Miller, in announcing this achievement to her staff, said “This acknowledgement of The Foundation’s performance-in-practice demonstrates the meaning of our company’s purpose, which is to deliver continuing professional education that is evidence-based, focused on the improvement in quality care ultimately impacting the patient, and is designed to address the specific scopes of practice of those professionals that utilize our educational activities.”

Dr. Bruno, cited the unique achievements of The France Foundation’s integrated, linear approach to education. According to Dr. Bruno, “our multimodal initiatives serve to reinforce educational goals and outcomes, using advanced adult education principles such as simulation techniques, case studies, and point of care based practice tools for clinicians, which result in higher levels of improvement in learner competence and performance-in-practice.”

In addition to delivering its own accredited education, The France Foundation acts as a trusted educational partner for numerous esteemed stakeholders in the CME community, including Academic Medical Centers, Hospitals and Intrastate Accredited Providers, and Medical Specialty Societies. The France Foundation is actively engaged in multiple, large-scale CME collaborations that seek to measure improvements in clinician performance and patient health across various gaps and unmet needs in medical care today. These include delivering improvements in:

• Immunization rates across the age spectrum
• Monitoring, counseling, and overall management of HIV-positive patients
• The screening, diagnosis, and management of patients with bipolar disorder
• Guideline adherence for the management of patients with acute coronary syndrome
• The prevention of stroke among patients with atrial fibrillation
• Inter disciplinary care coordination for the diagnosis, personalized assessment, and treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer
• Clinical outcomes for patients with HER2+ breast cancer

Over the past decade, The France Foundation has been an active contributor and presenter at leading CME conferences, such as the Annual Conference of the Alliance for CME and has formally published its educational outcomes in CME journals, such as CE Measure.

ACCME accreditation assures both physicians and the public that continuing medical education activities sponsored by The France Foundation meet the high standards of the Essentials Areas and Criteria for Accreditation of the ACCME. The ACCME rigorously evaluates the overall continuing medical education programs of institutions according to standards adopted by all seven sponsoring organizations of the ACCME: the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the Association for Hospital Medical Education, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, and the Federation of State Medical Boards. The France Foundation is pleased to be part of a group of organizations in the United States, including major medical schools, medical societies, hospitals and other medical education organizations that have been awarded this special accreditation status. The France Foundation’s CME activities are developed with complete independence and are based on the best medical and scientific evidence as determined by distinguished medical and scientific authorities who serve as faculty for each of its educational initiatives.

Please contact Theodore Bruno, MD, Chief Medical Officer, at (860) 598-2274 for further information about The France Foundation’s interdisciplinary educational offerings, services, and collaborative opportunities. These offerings, services, and opportunities engage a range of specialty areas that include diseases of the central nervous system, pulmonary medicine, infectious disease/immunizations, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular medicine, hematology/oncology, and primary care medicine.