Democratizing Specialized Care in the Digital Age: Project ECHO as a Learning Environment for Continuing Professional Development

Background: Digital health technologies have reshaped continuing professional development (CPD) in healthcare. However, learning in digitally mediated programs is often assumed rather than explicitly designed and assessed. Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a globally implemented telementoring model, expands access to specialized expertise through videoconferencing-based, case-oriented learning. While prior literature has documented program reach, implementation, and clinical outcomes, comparatively less attention has been paid to the interactional mechanisms through which learning unfolds within ECHO sessions. Objectives: This article conceptualizes Project ECHO as a structured learning environment and proposes a theoretically grounded framework for examining and assessing learning processes in digital CPD. Methods: Using situated learning, communities of practice, and cognitive apprenticeship as analytical lenses, this conceptual analysis examines participation structures, distributed expertise, facilitation practices, and case-based dialogue in ECHO sessions. Principles of constructive alignment inform a process-oriented assessment approach aligned with CPD evaluation models such as Moore’s framework. Conceptual framework: This article develops a theory-informed framework that conceptualizes Project ECHO as a structured learning architecture for digital continuing professional development. The framework identifies how participation, distributed expertise, facilitation, and case-based dialogue support learning processes during ECHO sessions. It also proposes process-oriented indicators to make learning dynamics more visible alongside outcome-based evaluation approaches. Conclusions: By foregrounding learning processes, this analysis offers a conceptual foundation to strengthening pedagogical alignment, faculty development, and assessment design in ECHO programs. The framework contributes to digital CPD scholarship by clarifying how learning develops within telementoring environments and by guiding future research and program refinement. More specifically, the article contributes a process-oriented evaluation perspective that helps make learning quality more visible within telementoring environments, thereby complementing dominant outcome-focused CPD models.