ACP becomes first organization in US to earn GRADE designation for guideline development

Key takeaways:

• GRADE is the “gold standard” for guideline development and methodology, an expert said.
• ACP joins more than 120 organizations around the world that use GRADE.

BOSTON — The ACP has been designated as a GRADE Center based on its developmental processes for guidelines, becoming the first organization in the U.S to receive such a designation.

GRADE, known as The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation, is “widely considered as the gold standard when it comes to the development and methodology of clinical guidelines,” Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, SFHM, MACP, chair of the ACP Board of Regents, said during a press briefing at the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting.

Barrett explained that the designation “recognizes the work and reputation at ACP and speaks to the level of rigor by ACP and its work of producing high-value clinical guidelines and informal recognition of its stringent protocols in its development of guidelines.”

According to an ACP press release, GRADE was founded in 2000 as an informal collaboration between people wanting to address shortcomings of grading systems in health care and is used by over 120 organizations across 19 countries.

Amir Qaseem, MD, PhD, MHA, FACP, vice president of clinical policy and the Center for Evidence Reviews at ACP, highlighted the organization’s substantial history of clinical guideline development.

“ACP’s goal is to provide physicians recommendations that are based on best available evidence,” he said. “I’m very proud to say the ACP is the oldest guidelines program in the United States. We have been doing this for a long time.”

Qaseem noted that the ACP was an “early adopter” of GRADE — having used the GRADE system since 2007 — and called the designation a “huge accomplishment.”

“We’re the only physician organization in the world that is a GRADE center,” he pointed out. “Our recognition shows that we’re a top-notch program. We have a capacity to teach, and we can train others to use GRADE ... We’re leading this whole guideline development enterprise.”

Carolyn Crandall, MD, MS, FACP, chair of the ACP’s Clinical Guidelines Committee, said the designation reflects ACP’s commitment to excellence and “is going to help to increase the impact of our clinical recommendations.”

“What this means is the essential bridge between having a gap from the evidence to the actual patient, clinic and these clinical discussions about decision-making ... we now have this great framework [to have in hand] in advancing this methodology,” she said. “That’s how you get from [this] evidence to the high-quality recommendations.”

Reference:

• American College of Physicians named GRADE Center, the First U.S. organization to receive designation. https://www.acponline.org/acp-newsroom/american-college-of-physicians-named-grade-center-the-first-us-organization-to-receive-designation. Published April 18, 2024. Accessed April 18, 2024.