ACP announced today that it has received the designation of a GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Center, the only U.S. organization to have done so. The designation recognizes ACP’s leadership and rigorous processes for developing clinical guidelines and recommendations.
At a press briefing today at Internal Medicine Meeting 2024 in Boston, ACP leaders discussed the new GRADE designation and the importance of transparent processes and methodologies for developing trustworthy, evidence-based clinical guidelines.
Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, MACP, Chair of the Board of Regents, noted that GRADE is the gold standard for guideline development. The center designation recognizes ACP’s commitment to providing physicians with recommendations based on the best available evidence to help them deliver the best possible health care to their patients.
Amir Qaseem, MD, PhD, MHA, MRCP (London), FACP, ACP’s Chief Science Officer and SVP of Clinical Policy, spoke about the long history of ACP’s clinical guidelines program—as the oldest guidelines program in the U.S., ACP has been developing clinical guidelines for nearly half a century. ACP was an early adopter of GRADE, having published its first guideline using GRADE in 2007. Dr. Qaseem elaborated on how ACP had to demonstrate dedication and capacity to teach, train, and use GRADE in the development of high-quality systematic reviews and guidelines, as well as contribute toward advancing GRADE science and methods.
Carolyn J. Crandall, MD, MS, MACP, current Chair of ACP’s Clinical Guidelines Committee, spoke about how ACP had earned the GRADE designation through its rigorous approach to developing evidence-based clinical guidelines and said that it reflected ACP’s commitment to excellence. She added that GRADE’s system is important as the framework makes judgments about evidence transparent and the end results trustworthy. Dr. Crandall also discussed how she sees this latest recognition for the ACP guidelines program impacting the work of the committee moving forward.
Holger Schünemann, MD, PhD, MSc, co-chair and cofounder of the GRADE Guidance Group, discussed GRADE’s founding in 2000 as an informal collaboration of people with an interest in addressing the shortcomings of grading systems in health care. GRADE has since become the standard and is used by more than 120 organizations from 19 countries around the world. A GRADE center serves as the primary hub within the region for GRADE-related questions and for support and collaboration opportunities. The mission of GRADE centers is to help the GRADE working group in the training, promotion, dissemination, and implementation of GRADE. Dr. Schünemann added that GRADE values its relationship with ACP and looks to continue what has been a long-standing and productive relationship. ■