A Consensus Position Paper from REAL-PANLAR Group about the Methodological Approach for the Accreditation Process of Centers of Excellence in Rheumatoid Arthritis in Latin America

Background By 2015, the World Health Organization reported that 1% of the world population suffered from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in Latin America (LA) between 0.5% and 1%. Previously, in May 2014, a consensus meeting was held in Barranquilla, Colombia, where the Project for Implementation and Accreditation of Centers of Excellence (CoE) in RA in LA was established, which then became an official special group of the Pan American League of Associations for Rheumatology (PANLAR). Objective The aim of this study was to define the methodological approach for the accreditation process of CoE in RA in LA. Methods A meeting was held in April 2015 with participation of the members of the REAL-PANLAR Steering Committee, and representatives of several LA countries, with the support of 2 experts in accreditation processes and models in Colombia. Then, in November 2015 in San Francisco and in November 2016 in Washington, the REAL-PANLAR Steering Committee met to discuss some final aspects of the project. Results The following steps for accreditation were defined: application for accreditation, issuance of the concept of assessment of the entity, accreditation decision, and monitoring accreditation. Conclusions This is the second REAL-PANLAR consensus paper with the purpose to define the parameters for the accreditation process for future CoE in RA in LA.