CPE Capstones Move to Florida, with Opportunity to Expand

Previously tied to AAPL’s live-education institutes, the 3½- day program will now be held quarterly in downtown Tampa.

For more than 20 years, the journey toward attaining Certified Physician Executive status — the premiere credential offered by the American Association for Physician Leadership — has culminated with the capstone program, which puts the final touch on a career-elevating achievement.

USF's Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation opened in 2012 in downtown Tampa. | AAPL

In recent years, CPE capstone events have been tied to the association’s live-education institutes. Wherever you found an AAPL institute, you also found dozens of physicians taking the final step toward CPE status.

Beginning this fall, those discrete events head in different directions.

While AAPL’s live institutes will continue being held at varying locations around the United States (the 2018 Fall Institute is Oct. 25-29 in Scottsdale, Arizona), the 3½-day capstone program will now be held quarterly at the University of South Florida’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation in downtown Tampa, near AAPL’s offices.

The first, slated for Nov. 15-18, is sold out, with a wait list. The next one is scheduled for Feb. 21-24, 2019.

“The CPE is our premier credential — it’s a beacon program for us,” says AAPL president and CEO Peter Angood, MD, FRCS(C), FACS, MCCM. “As we continue to expand the meaning of the CPE credential in the industry, we wanted the opportunity to more easily keep expanding without relying on the timing to be the same as live institutes or other programs.”

The move brings AAPL full-circle on institute and capstone programs. Previously held separately, Angood brought the two events together shortly after he took the organization’s helm in 2011. At the time, capstones were held twice a year. But as interest in the CPE credential grew, capstones expanded to three, then four times annually.

Angood says capstone events will continue quarterly but, depending on demand, could increase to five or six times a year.

“It’s a growing program,” he says. “Now, putting the CPE program in a single location allows for consistency of staff, institutional resources, and a consistency of approach for delivering the capstone program.”

The USF CAMLS facility opened in 2012 in the heart of downtown Tampa and is within walking distance of hotels, riverside restaurants, museums, a performing arts center, the city’s professional hockey arena, and a 2.6-mile Riverwalk.

Click here to learn more about the CPE credential.