National Standards for DSMES

Overview of the National Standards

An accredited or recognized DSMES service must meet evidence-based standards. The accreditation and recognition processes help ensure that services are offering quality education and make the services eligible for reimbursement from Medicare, many private health plans, and some state Medicaid agencies.

The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has authorized two organizations, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists (ADCES), to determine whether DSMES services meet the required standards. Although ADA uses the term “recognition” and ADCES uses the term “accreditation,” the two terms (recognition and accreditation) essentially involve the same processes. Both organizations rely on the 2017 edition of the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Supportexternal icon to evaluate DSMES services.

This section of the toolkit focuses on the 2017 National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support and provides tools and resources to assist services wanting to put the standards for DSMES accreditation or recognition into use.

This toolkit provides resources and tools specific to each of the ten 2017 standards. For general information about ADCES and ADA interpretations of the 2017 standards, check out the resources below.

ADCES and ADA interpretations of the 2017 standards

2017 National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Supportexternal icon: This is an article by the 2017 Standards Revision Task Force introducing the 2017 edition of the National Standards.

Summary list of standards and ADCES’s interpretation of the standards pdf icon[PDF – 804 KB]external icon: This summary details the essential elements of each national standard (as interpreted by ADCES), provides a checklist to help services determine if they meet the standards, and provides guidance for each standard.

ADA Education Recognition Service Review Criteria and Indicators pdf icon[PDF – 1 MB]external icon: This summary details the essential elements of each national standard (as interpreted by ADA), provides a checklist to help services determine if they meet the standards, and provides guidance for each standard.