The University of Texas Health Science Center - Office of ...



REGULARLY SCHEDULED SERIES

cme CREDIT APPLICATION HANDBOOK

UT Health Science Center San Antonio

Continuing Medical Education Office

MC 7980 – 7703 Floyd Curl Drive

San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900

210/567-4447( Fax: 210/567-6964



INTRODUCTION

MISSION

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

The mission of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is to serve the needs of the citizens of Texas, the nation, and the world through programs committed to excellence and designed to:

• educate a diverse student body to become excellent health care providers and scientists

• engage in biomedical research focused on seeking information fundamental to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease

• provide compassionate and culturally competent state of the art clinical care

• enhance community health awareness, education and practices thereby improving the wellness of the citizenry

School of Medicine

The mission of the School of Medicine is to serve the needs of the citizens of Texas by providing medical education and training to medical students and physicians at all career levels and fostering environment of lifelong learning that is flexible and emphasizes professionalism with special commitment to the preparation of physicians in both the art and science of medical practice; conducting biomedical and other health related research, with particular attention to translational research; delivering exemplary health care; and providing a responsive resources in health related affairs for the nation and the state, with particular emphasis on South Texas.

Office of Continuing Medical Education

The mission and purpose of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) CME program is to assume leadership in bridging current quality gaps in health care delivery, by maintaining and enhancing the attitude, knowledge and skills of practicing physicians and other health professionals in interprofessional and interdisciplinary settings, to improve patient care through teaching, research, and clinical services.

Content Areas

Content areas address core competencies including clinical care, medical knowledge, professionalism, communication skills, practice-based improvement, and systems-based practice.

Target Audience

Programming is targeted to physicians and other health care professionals within the UT Health Science Center School of Medicine, as well as those from across the United States and other countries who are impacted by our academic and clinical enterprises.

Types of Activities

The Office of Continuing Medical Education draws on the educational, scientific, research, technological, and other institutional resources of the University and its clinical affiliates to offer diverse activities including formal courses, interactive small groups, communities of learning and practice, and self-directed activities in a variety of formats to accommodate individual learning styles and achieve stated educational objectives.

Results

The expected results of CME activities are determined through the assessment of knowledge, professional performance, clinical outcomes, and population health. This is accomplished through a variety of methodologies including survey tools, reflective exercises, pre- and post-activity knowledge and competency testing, and measurement of healthcare outcomes. These data are used to assess the effectiveness of our activities and to continuously improve the quality of education offered to our target audiences. The expected results of the overall program are determined by measurement of progress on stated goals and institutional performance metrics.

Objectives

This mission will be accomplished by the following specific objectives:

• Identify significant new medical knowledge in evidence based practice.

• Identify significant new medical knowledge in research that has an impact on the practice of medicine.

• Develop educational techniques, mechanisms, and systems that will transfer this knowledge to practicing physicians and other health professionals effectively and efficiently.

• Develop an environment that fosters the value of lifelong learning among medical students, resident physicians, faculty physicians and the practicing medical community.

• Collaborate to meet the specific needs of CME for specific physicians and their practices and create new innovations in “tailor-made” CME activities or programs to address these needs.

• Create interdisciplinary and interprofessional activities to improve the quality of system based practice.

• Devise a method of evaluation to determine the impact of CME activities on improving the quality of health care delivery.

Values and Beliefs

In aligning its mission with the UTHSCSA and the SOM, the Office of Continuing Medical Education strives to achieve CME as a bridge to quality and ensure that its endeavors meet the highest standards of evidence-based content, professionalism and ethics. The Office will foster the philosophy that “learning for life” is the key to maintaining and enhancing the highest quality of patient care and that “learning for life” begins with increasing the opportunities for inclusion of medical students and residents into CME activities and continues throughout a physician’s personal and professional lifetime. The Office of CME will also foster a philosophy of excellence in teaching, built upon the belief that with new medical innovation there are new horizons for teaching and that learning itself must evolve into continuous physician professional development.

CME as a Bridge to Quality: Continuing Medical Education will serve in a leadership role in bridging current quality gaps in health care delivery through practice based learning that is evidence- and systems-based and is inclusive of interprofessional education.

Innovation: The human mind has a vast potential for learning and discovery. The development of new biomedical knowledge, implementations and techniques and their applications to the health and well-being of people are central to medical education and patient care. New developments in clinical and biomedical informatics are central to creating new innovations in medical education and challenge us to be creative in our CME endeavors.

Learning for Life: Lifelong learning is the key to maintaining and enhancing clinical skills and knowledge base for medical professionals. The vast array of knowledge and expertise within the profession of medicine presents an opportunity to challenge physicians to discover new and exciting areas of medicine that will not only benefit themselves but also their patients. High priority must be given to establishing and maintaining a learning environment which encourages continuous assessment of current competencies, identification of professional practice gaps, ongoing performance improvement and rewards creativity and lifelong discovery and learning.

Professionalism: Physicians are professionals and the “fiduciary” nature of the patient-physician relationship requires them to display the highest standards of ethical behavior. Physicians should ensure that they are free of any conflict of interest or appearance of any conflict of interest when involved in CME activities as a planner, speaker or attendee.

Review Process and Timeframe

This information is reviewed by senior leadership at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio School of Medicine on an annual basis. The Office of Continuing Medical Education’s goals are continuously realigned to assure congruence with institutional Identify significant new medical knowledge in research and clinical practice.

Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS)

Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS) are defined as daily, weekly or monthly CME activities that are primarily planned by and presented to the provider’s own professional staff and are designated for credit as one activity.

The Continuing Medical Education Office serves as the provider of CME credit for UT Health Science Center San Antonio School of Medicine (UTHSCSA SOM). The CME Office plays a critical role in the planning, implementation and evaluation of all RSS.

RSS typically include such activities as Grand Rounds, Tumor Boards and Morbidity & Mortality Conferences. UTHSCSA SOM Continuing Medical Education Office has developed a system that monitors all regularly scheduled series ensuring compliance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Essential Areas and Elements (including Standards for Commercial Support) and Policies. This system ensures that activities are:

1. Planned, implemented and evaluated based on real performance data.

• State the learner’s performance gaps (for professional practice gaps that are identified in methods other than direct measurement of your professional staff – e.g., national trend data, state level data – explain how you connect these gaps to your own RSS attendees (learners)

• State the needs you identify based on these gaps

• Articulate the need in terms of knowledge, competence or performance

• Incorporate the identified needs into the RSS (state specific topics that will address needs)

• Describe how the content of your RSS is matched to your learner’s current or potential scope of practice

• Establish improvement measures

• Describe changes in performance, competence, or patient outcomes that take place as a result of improvements derived from the RSS educational interventions

2. Each UTHSCSA SOM Department or Center that organizes RSS is expected to comply with UTHSCSA SOM CME Office policies and procedures, as they relate to how the RSS will be planned, implemented and evaluated. UTHSCSA SOM Departments and Center should consider the following when planning RSS activities:

• A complete application must be submitted to the UTHSCSA SOM CME Office prior to the beginning of the RSS.

• For each RSS series there must be at least one individual from the Department or Center who serves as the CME Associate.

• The CME Associate must participate in CME RSS training and adhere to the UTHSCSA SOM CME Office policies and procedures.

• Each RSS series will be required to measure and document the effectiveness of the activity in meeting identified educational needs in terms of satisfaction, knowledge or skill.

• Each annual RSS will be required to measure and document the effectiveness of the activity in meeting identified educational needs in terms of practice performance, competence and/or patient health status.

3. The UTHSCSA CME Office has available and accessible to the learners a system through which data and information on a learner’s participation can be recorded and retrieved. This data and information includes:

• learner unique identifier

• name/topic of activity/presentation

• date of activity

• amount of credit actually claimed by participant

Participants can request a transcript of all credits for RSS for the past six years. A minimum of two weeks (10 business days) is needed to provide a CME transcript. Our database contains RSS attendance data starting in September 2005. Credit information previous to September 2005 is accessible and can take up to 30 days to retrieve. ACCME limits the provider’s (UTHSCSA SOM CME Office) responsibility in this regard to “access, availability and retrieval.” Learners are free to choose not to use this available and accessible system.

Most transcript requests will be turned around within two weeks (10 business days). Effective May 18, 2010 CME transcripts are provided to the participant only. Participants may also obtain their CME transcript via the CME website:

ADMINISTRATIVE FEES

Departments can specify which sessions/presentations from the series that they would like to have accredited throughout the year.

Enduring materials: The CME Office must track enduring materials (such as web-based CME activities that are derived from live events) with the same rigor as the live series. Enduring materials are considered separate events. Department will be charged a separate CME Administrative fee equal to the administrative fee of the live event if the enduring material contains the same content as the live activity. The CME Fee(s) will be as follows:

|Sessions |Fee |Additional Administrative Fee |

| | |(if RSS is also an enduring material) |

|1-12 sessions/presentations |$ 500.00 |$ 500.00 |

|13-24 sessions/presentations |$ 800.00 |$ 800.00 |

|25-36 sessions/presentations |$ 1200.00 |$ 1200.00 |

|37-52 sessions/presentations |$ 1600.00 |$ 1600.00 |

|52-78 sessions/presentations |$ 2000.00 |$ 2000.00 |

REQUEST FOR AMA PRA CATEGORY I CREDIT( PROCESS

Planning a quality Continuing Medical Education (CME) program is a thoughtful process, which often begins a year or more prior to intended activity. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) requires that the UT Health Science Center San Antonio School of Medicine use planning processes that link identified educational needs with a desired result in its provision of all CME activities. To assist with this process the Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education meets annually with UTHSCSA SOM Department Chairs, RSS Chairs and Department Advisory Board members to discuss how the CME Office can be involved in the overall planning process for RSS, and to provide ACCME, AMA, or UTHSCSA SOM CME Office updates for RSS.

If this is a new series, please contact our office as early as possible before you begin to plan the series so we can schedule a meeting. Educational activities that are planned prior to approaching the UTHSCSA CME Office may not be considered for designation of CME credit.

Below is a step-by-step outline to help guide you through the process. We realize the application process may appear overwhelming and we want to make it as simple as possible for you. Please contact our office and we will assist you with the application process.

Step 1 – Contact the UTHSCSA CME Office

The first step is to contact the CME Office to inform us of your intent to plan a RSS and your desire to have this activity designated for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit. At this time, you can inform us of the dates/times of planning meetings, your target audience, the general description of your RSS, and provide an overview of how the educational need for this activity was identified. Below are some resources that may be helpful in completing the various components of your application.

Website Resources

A. Needs assessment - Below are some web-accessible resources for needs assessment. The CME Office staff is available to provide technical assistance for needs assessment if needed.

1. AHRQ National Healthcare Quality Report - 

2. US Department of Health and Human Services

3. HHS Office of the Surgeon General - 

4. Texas Health Data - 

5. CMS Hospital Compare Website -

6. Robert Wood Johnson -

7. JAHCO -

8. Council of Medical Specialty Societies (with links to member Specialty Societies)

9. Journal of the American Medical Association

10. New England Journal of Medicine

11. The Lancet

12. The State of Quality Healthcare

13. Institute for Healthcare Improvement

14. National Institute for Quality Improvement and Education

B. Resources for activity planners – Below are listed some web-accessible resources which you may use/adapt for the purpose of planning your activity. 

1. CMSS Physician Practice Measurement and Quality Improvement Primer

2. Planning Accredited Rounds

3. Course Directors Guide

C. Outcomes measurement - Below are some web-accessible resources, which provide helpful information for outcomes measurement.  CME Office staff can provide technical assistance in developing or implementing outcomes measurement.

1. ACGME Toolbox of Assessment Methods

2. ACGME - Outcomes Project (Teaching From a Competency Perspective)

3. AAMC Medportal

4. HEDIS and Quality Measurement

Step 2 – Complete the Application for Continuing Medical Education credit and submit with appropriate Project ID and other funding information

Complete the Application for Continuing Medical Education and submit it to the CME Office. Upon receipt of your application, UTHSCSA CME will review for completion. Completed applications will include:

Source documents which provide evidence that the series is planned based on real data

Disclosure and attestation forms for all planning committee members

Specific educational needs of the target audience (professional performance gaps)

Overall (general) series learner-focused objectives

Proposed educational format that is consistent with educational need and learning objectives

Specified desired results

Evaluation plan

Outcomes measurement plan

Proposed agenda with dates, topics and speakers

Department/Center PID and other funding information

After assessment by CME Office and determination that the RSS series is at minimum in full compliance with ACCME Essentials and Polices, the CME Office will forward the application to a CME Advisory Board member for review/approval. Upon approval of your application, the UTHSCSA CME Office will establish a CME Project ID # for your activity, set-up the activity in the CME database, and add your activity to our CME calendar of events. The activity will be assigned to the CME Coordinator for RSS, Cindie Garcia, who will serve as the liaison between the CME Office and the Department or Center. If you need assistance completing the Application for Continuing Medical Education Credit form, please contact:

Cindie Garza – CME RSS Conference Coordinator - garciac16@uthscsa.edu

Marissa Howard – CME Acting Director – howardm@uthscsa.edu

CME Office – cme@uthscsa.edu

Step 3 – Submit sample of marketing materials

A sample of each type of marketing material used to market or announce your RSS series must be included with the Application for Continuing Medical Education Activity Form. Marketing materials include flyers, posters, websites and/or e-mails.

Step 4 – Submit planner/speaker documentation

The following documentation must be submitted with your application and should be retained by the CME Associate in his/her files.

Biographical Data form - is required for all Speakers who will be presenting during the proposed series. (Please do not send CVs. Profiles and Biographical Sketches that contain the same information requested on the CME Biographic Data form are acceptable.) The Planning Committee need not provide Bio Data forms.

Disclosure form - is required for all speakers and planning committee members.

Attestation form – is required for all planning committee members and speakers who disclose a financial relationship (of any amount) with commercial interest.

Step 5 – Submit Commercial Support Requests

*All letters of requests for educational grants from commercial interests must be sent in writing to the CME Office at least 90 days prior to the educational activity and must be approved by the CME Office prior to submission to the commercial interest. All Letters of Agreement for Commercial Support (LOAs) are agreements between the commercial entity and the UTHSCSA SOM CME Office, and must be signed by the commercial entity and the UTHSCSA Director of Continuing Medical Education prior to the activity taking place. A fully executed LOA should be sent from the commercial supporter to the UTHSCSA SOM CME Office prior to the educational activity.

Requests for Commercial Support

Any request for monetary support from a commercial interest must be completed by the CME office. If you wish to receive commercial support we encourage you to request support for your series rather than individual presentations and are happy to assist you in developing such a request. We will need to receive the following information no less than 90 days prior to the presentation:

• Company name

• Amount of grant to be requested

• Date of the presentation or series

• Title of the presentation or series

• Activity budget

• Activity agenda

• Learning objectives

• Needs assessment

• Name and contact information for commercial representative (if applicable)

In compliance with UTHSCSA CME Office policy and ACCME Standards for Commercial Support all commercial support associated with a CME activity must be given with the full knowledge and approval of the provider (UTHSCSA-CME Office). The terms, conditions and purpose of the commercial support must be documented in a letter of agreement between the commercial entity and the CME Office.

*Submission of online request for educational grants by anyone other than CME Office staff is not permissible. Requests for Educational Grants must be received in the CME Office no less than 90 days prior to the presentation. The CME Office is the only UTHSCSA office authorized to sign LOAs with commercial interests for CME activities.

All educational grants are subject to a 10% CME grants management fee.

◦ 10% of amount received

◦ CME grants management fee is in addition to activity budget

◦ When grant funds are received and deposit appears in general ledger, then the grant funds (less 10%) are transferred to respective department/center.

◦ Example: $5,000 grant received - $4,500 transferred to department/center

All educational grants are subject to reconciliation and unused funds are returned to commercial interests.

Step 6 - Evaluation

The attendees of your program must be provided with the opportunity to evaluate the educational activity’s effectiveness in meeting the identified educational need in terms of their satisfaction, knowledge improvement, and skill improvement. You must provide our office with a sample of the evaluation tool with your completed application that will be used by participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the activity in meeting the identified educational need(s). In other words, there should be an obvious link between the needs assessment, the educational program and the program evaluation. Therefore, development of the evaluation tool also needs to be discussed during the planning process. CME staff is available to provide technical assistance in developing effective evaluation tools.

At the conclusion of the RSS series you must provide the CME Office with a summary of the evaluation. We recommend that the results are shared with the speaker who presented and the planning committee.

Step 7 – Post-activity documentation

Once the activity is over, there is still a bit of post activity paperwork required to complete the overall CME process, or to ensure participants receive accurate documentation of CME credit (if desired). Your CME Office liaison will discuss this post-activity information with your CME Associate.

At the conclusion of your series, we require electronic submission of the following post activity documentation:

• Total number of attendees broken into two groups – physicians and non-physicians

• Final budget accounting

• Evaluation summary for the year

Step 8 – Responsibilities

The RSS Chair is responsible for the following:

• Ensuring your Regularly Scheduled Series is in compliance with the UTHSCSA Guidelines for Interactions between Clinicians and Industry, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for Commercial Interest, the ACCME Essential Areas & Elements, and the UTHSCSA SOM CME policies.

• Completing and signing the Application for Continuing Medical Education form

• Providing the CME Associate with Planning Committee meeting documentation - i.e., minutes, e-mails, etc.

• Providing the CME Associate with Grant request information

• Providing the CME Associate with proposed and confirmed Speaker(s) and their information

• Supporting the CME Associate in obtaining the required documentation from proposed Speaker(s)

• Reviewing speaker presentation(s) to resolve Conflict of Interest (when applicable)

• Directing each presentation or designate an individual to direct it

• Completing Verbal Disclosure form (if applicable)

The RSS Associate is responsible for the following:

• Ensuring your Regularly Scheduled Series is in compliance with the UTHSCSA SOM CME policies, UTHSCSA Guidelines for Interactions Between Clinicians and Industry, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for Commercial Interest, and the ACCME Essential Areas & Elements

• Submitting a completed Application for Continuing Medical Education with supporting documentation to CME Office

• Obtaining the completed Speaker Disclosure(s), Attestation(s) (if applicable), Biographical Data(s), Talent Release(s), Evaluation(s)

• Submitting Speaker Disclosure(s), Attestation(s) (if applicable), Biographical Data(s), Talent Release(s), Evaluation(s) to the CME office prior to the activity for review

• Submitting all Attendance Sign-in Sheets via e-mail, fax or campus mail to the CME Office within one week of the activity

• Submitting all quarterly Financial Data

• Maintaining all documentation for the RSS files electronically for the duration of the accreditation period - i.e., June 1, 2011 to May 30, 2015.

• Contacting the CME Office BEFORE you purge your files.

Documentation includes the following:

o Signed Faculty Financial Disclosure Form

o Attestations Form (if applicable)

o COI Resolution

o Verification that Financial Disclosure took place before presentation

o Biographical Data Form (CME Office does not accept CVs)

o Talent Release Form (if taping session)

o Slide Presentations

o Presentation Learning Objective(s)

o Marketing Materials (Print and electronic)

o Evaluation Form and Evaluation Summary (at end of the series)

o Sign-in Sheets (within one week after activity)

o Outcome Measures - Performance Improvements

• Providing Grant Request information to CME Office at least 90 days prior to activity. All grants and letters of agreement must be processed through the CME Office

• Notifying the RSS Chair when there is a Conflict of Interest and provide the RSS Chair with the Speaker’s presentation

• Obtaining all slide presentations, learning objectives, handouts

• Providing all slide presentations, learning objectives, handouts to the CME office prior to the activity for review

• Distributing the learning objectives, disclosure information, accreditation and designation statements in the marketing materials - i.e., flyers, e-mail announcements

• Arranging speaker lodging, travel, and honorarium (if applicable)

The CME Office is responsible for the following:

• Responding promptly to CME inquiries

• Communicating with CME planners on a regular basis regarding updates

• Reviewing the Application for Continuing Medical Education to ensure compliance current ACCME accreditation criteria.

• Submitting completed RSS applications to CME Advisor for review.

• Designating approved regularly scheduled series for AMA PRA Category 1 credit.

• Tracking CME participation and credit for your RSS activity for up to six years

• Providing CME credit transcripts upon request

• Submitting requests for educational grants from commercial interests

• Executing letters of agreement with commercial interest for educational grants

• Holding ongoing CME Associate workshops

• Monitoring the Regularly Scheduled Series usage of ACCME accreditation and AMA designation statements, and the documentation maintained by the CME Associate

• Monitoring the Regularly Scheduled Series for compliance with UTHSCSA CME Guidelines, UTHSCSA Guidelines for Interactions Between Clinicians and Industry, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for Commercial Support, and the ACCME Essential Areas & Elements

Deadline to submit completed application and supporting documentation is July 1, 2011.

GLOSSARY OF CME TERMS

(Portions Extracted from ACCME and AMA Guidelines)

Accreditation: The decision by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) or recognized state medical society that an organization has met the requirements for a CME provider as outlined by the ACCME. The standard term of accreditation is four years.

Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME): The ACCME sets the standards for the accreditation of all providers of CME activities. The ACCME has two major functions: the accreditation of providers whose CME activities attract a national audience and the recognition of state or territorial medical societies to accredit providers whose audiences for its CME activities are primarily from that state/territory and contiguous states/territories.

Accreditation Statement: The standard statement that must be used by all accredited institutions and organizations.

Activity: An educational event for physicians, which is based upon identified needs, has a purpose or objectives and is evaluated to assure the needs are met. For RSS, your activity consists of all presentation in your annual series.

Annual Report: The form of data collection that requires an annual submission of data from each accredited provider and allows the ACCME to monitor changes in an individual accredited provider’s program and within the population of accredited providers.

Commercial Interest: Any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by or used on patients. The ACCME does not consider nonprofit or government organizations, non-health care related companies or providers of clinical service directly to patients to be commercial interests.

Commercial Support: Financial or in-kind contributions given by a commercial interest, which is used to pay all or part of the costs of a CME activity. Advertising and exhibit income is not considered commercial support.

Conflict of Interest: A conflict of interest exists when person(s) involved in program planning or implementation has personal considerations that could potentially influence the person’s ability to be objective and unbiased in performance of program-related duties. In continuing medical education, the undesirable outcome of “conflict of interest” is typically the introduction/demonstration of a bias in favor of a commercial product in return for personal gain.

Continuing Medical Education: Continuing medical education consists of educational activities which serve to maintain, develop or increase the knowledge, skills and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public or the profession. The content of CME is that body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, the discipline of clinical medicine, and the provision of health care to the public.

Credit: The “currency” assigned to hours of CME. Requirements for the designation of credit are determined by the organization responsible for the credit system, e.g., AMA-PRA (Category 1 and 2 Credit), AAFP (Prescribed and Elective Credit), and ACOG (Cognates).

Designation of CME Credit: The declaration that an activity meets the criteria for a specific type of credit. The accredited provider (CME Office) is responsible to these agencies, programs and societies in the matter of designation of credits and verifications of physician attendance.

Documentation Review: The form of data collection that allows the CME office to determine if the required documentation of the standards presented by ACCME has occurred.

Enduring Materials: Enduring materials are printed, recorded or computer-presented activities that may be used over time at various locations and which, in themselves, constitute a planned CME activity. In an enduring material the provider creates the content.

Exhibitor: A representative of a commercial organization which pays a fee for the ability to display products or services related to a CME activity or of interest to the participants of a CME activity in the exhibit area outside a CME activity.

Journal-based CME: A journal-based CME activity includes the reading of an article (or adapted formats for special needs), a provider stipulated/learner directed phase (that may include reflection, discussion, or debate about the material contained in the article(s)) and a requirement for the completion by the learner of a pre-determined set of questions or tasks relating to the content of the material as part of the learning process.

Needs Assessment: Needs Assessment is the process of identifying and analyzing data that reflect the need for a particular CME activity. Needs assessment data could result from a survey of the potential learners, evaluations from previous CME activities, needed health outcomes, identified new skills, etc. Needs assessment data provides the basis for developing learner objectives for any CME activity. The ACCME does not want to limit the scope of CME providers’ or learners’ educational projects. Part or all of some professionals’ practices include important non-clinical, non-patient care elements which are still considered relevant to continuing medical education. When there is a gap between what the professional is doing or accomplishing compared to what is “achievable on the basis of current professional knowledge,” there is a professional practice gap.

Objectives: Statements that clearly describe what the learner will know or be able to do after participating in the CME activity. The statements should result from the needs assessment data.

Participant: An individual who attends or participates in a CME activity.

Professional Performance/Practice Gap: This is an ACCME adaptation of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) definition of a gap in the quality of patient care – where the gap is “the difference between health care processes or outcomes observed in practice, and those potentially achievable on the basis of current professional knowledge.”

Regularly Scheduled Series: A course is identified as an RSS when it is planned to have 1) a series with multiple sessions that 2) occur on an ongoing basis (offered weekly, monthly, or quarterly) and 3) are primarily planned by and presented to the accredited organization’s professional staff. Examples of activities that are planned and presented as a regularly scheduled conference are Grand Rounds, Tumor Boards, Lecture Series, Journal Clubs and M&M Conferences.

Site Review: The form of data collection that allows the CME office to observe an activity and document compliance with the requirements for accreditation.

Support: Funds which help to finance CME activities. Support can come from various sources, including government, private, or commercial. When support is from commercial organizations (such as pharmaceutical or device companies, a letter of agreement for commercial support must be completed and signed by representatives of the accredited sponsor (CME Office) and the commercial supporter.

Abbreviated CME Terms

ABMS American Board of Medical Specialties

ACCME Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education

ACGME Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

AMA American Medical Association

COA Certificate of Attendance

COC Certificate of Credit

COI Conflict of Interest

CME Continuing Medical Education

CPE Continuing Professional Education

LOA Letter of Agreement for Commercial Support

PRA Physician’s Recognition Award

RSS Regularly Scheduled Series

SOA Statement of Attendance

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