The Defense Health Agency, J-7 (Education & Training), Continuing Education Program Office (CEPO) offers unlimited continuing education (CE)/continuing medical education (CME) credits and Certificates of Attendance (CAs) to health care professionals who actively treat service members, veterans, and their family members. With unlimited CEs/CMEs and CAs, CEPO serves as a cost effective CE/CME program supported by the DHA Directorate.

Mission

DHA, J-7, CEPO's mission is to:

• Employ the latest educational & technical advancements and an efficient infrastructure that plans, approves, tracks/reports, and delivers CE/CME accreditation services for multiple health care professionals. This includes an accessible learning management system that is unified and relevant to the continually evolving health care system.
• Disseminate evidence-based life-long learning.
• Expand the scope of the CE/CME subject matter to meet the diverse and continually evolving needs of the health care professional across the military health system (MHS) as well as implement a systems approach that integrates measures of access, quality, patient safety, medical readiness, and efficiency in assessing program effectiveness.
• Demonstrate that health care teams receive quality CE/CME that is designed to be independent, free from commercial bias, based on valid content, and effective in improving the quality and safety of care delivered by the teams.
• Continue to maintain good standing with our accrediting organizations and expand the scope of the CE/CME subject matter to meet the diverse and continually evolving needs of the health care professionals.
• DHA, J-7, CEPO fulfills its mission by providing education and training for the Department of Defense's interdisciplinary teams of health professionals: physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, optometrists, social workers, psychologists, dentists, dental hygienists, dental technicians, athletic trainers, registered dieticians, dietetic technicians, health information professionals, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, certified counselors, kinesiotherapists, case managers, healthcare executives, audiologists, speech language pathologists, physical therapists, and physical therapist assistants. Learners are offered unlimited CE/CME credits and CAs for accredited events.
• The CE/CME program is also critical in aligning with two of the DHA's three main strategic goals: (1) optimize the DHA for greater performance, and (2) co-create optimal outcomes for health, well-being, and readiness. This is accomplished by institutionalizing a supportive learning environment, creating and codifying learning processes and practices, and providing leadership behavior that clearly enforces a culture of life-long learning.

Expected Results of DHA's CE Program

DHA, J-7, CEPO's expected results of the centralized CE/CME program are to facilitate best practices, interprofessional learning, and military readiness, which enhances the knowledge, skills, and practices of the health care team. All CE/CME activities are formally evaluated post-event by learners and planners to determine the extent to which the expected results have been achieved. The expected results are as follows:

• Acquisition of evidence-based and best practice strategies for the health care team and their application in patient care.
• Enhanced strategies and skills in military health care professionals by providing education activities that seek to educate those who treat our active and veteran military force.
• Improved interprofessional communication skills for learning about and from the members of the health care team.
• Commitment to life-long learning and the application of knowledge, skills, and practices in the clinical setting.
• Learner participation in assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of CE activities.
• Facilitate improvements in the collaborative team approach to patient care by educating providers of new methodologies or the importance of existing processes.
• Identify, prioritize, and translate evidence-based practices and research into clinical standards, thereby improving quality and increasing efficiency in health care delivery across the continuum of care.