NCC Policy: Use of Generative AI for Certification Maintenance and Continuing Education

The National Certification Corporation (NCC) is committed to ensuring that all continuing education (CE) used for certification maintenance reflects current, evidence-based clinical practice and professional judgment. To protect the validity of NCC certifications and public safety, maintenance activities must involve engagement with materials authored, peer-reviewed, and validated by human Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

NCC strictly prohibits the use of CE credits for certification maintenance where Generative AI served as the primary author, SME, or clinical validator without documented, substantial human oversight. To be eligible for maintenance, educational content must have written objectives for the offering and be developed and vetted by qualified human professionals, who assume legal and ethical responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided.

Non-Acceptable Use of AI in CE for NCC certification maintenance

CE credits will not be awarded or accepted for maintenance in the following circumstances:

• Unverified Generation: Content generated entirely by AI without a documented human validation process.
• Unverifiable References: Content containing fabricated bibliographies, non-existent clinical citations, or any references that cannot be validated against authoritative, peer-reviewed medical literature.
• Anonymous Authorship: Any educational module that does not identify a specific, qualified human author or clinical editor responsible for the information.
• Unvetted Summaries: AI-generated summaries of journals or textbooks, unless the summary itself has been formally peer-reviewed and issued by an accredited CE provider.
• Internet Point-of-Care: Self-directed learning to answer a clinical question in which an AI internal algorithm is used to determine if the question is a valid clinical inquiry and then processes CE without a documented human validation process. There are significant concerns that AI tools that influence care decisions due to algorithmic bias, data quality and lack of transparency can cause a risk to patient safety, when there is no human validation process.
• Use of any CE that does not have specific objectives for the educational activity.

Acceptable AI-Assisted CE (Human-in-the-Loop)

For CE, that utilizes AI to be considered "qualified" for NCC maintenance, it must meet the following Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) requirements:

• 100% SME Verification: AI used as a drafting tool must be followed by a rigorous review by a designated human SME to verify clinical accuracy, citations, and relevance to current practice standards.
• Source Validation: All AI-generated information must be cross-referenced with authoritative, peer-reviewed sources.
• All AI-generated information that offers continuing education must have clear learning objectives to ensure educational quality, regulatory compliance, and effective knowledge transfer.
• Active Engagement: The CE must verify the participant’s understanding through a personalized assessment (e.g., a quiz or summary reflecting practical application) to ensure the learner engaged with the content rather than using AI to "shortcut" the requirement.
• Disclosure: the use of AI must be disclosed
• A CE certificate along with documented objectives are required for maintenance.
  1. A CE certificate that displays the applicant's name, date of completion, awarded CE hours, course title, and the accredited entity is required
  2. Documented Objectives:
     • Live activities (conferences, workshops)
     • Enduring Materials: Online courses, recorded webinars or journals 
     • Peer reviewed articles with posttests; that may have had AI assistance but are finalized, validated and peer reviewed by human professionals.

All CE submitted for maintenance, whether for Core or Subspecialty certifications, must adhere to the standards above. NCC does not recognize "fully AI-generated" CE as a valid category of education. Only "AI-assisted/Human-verified" offerings from accredited providers are eligible to satisfy maintenance requirements.

Candidates may use AI assisted CE that meets the policy and their core competencies for a maximum of 5 CE per maintenance cycle.