The following are guidelines and procedures developed by the Office of Continuing Medical Education which govern providership of educational activities submitted for certification of Category I credit of the Physician's Recognition Award of the American Medical Association. The Office of CME is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education activities for physicians. The same guidelines and procedures apply to both directly provided and jointly provided activities.
The Office of CME strictly adheres to the Updated Accreditation Criteria as set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. These guidelines and procedures have been developed to assist activity directors to ensure compliance with the Updated Accreditation Criteria when developing their activities. It is crucial for activity directors to work directly with the CME staff in all phases of activity development.
The Office of Continuing Medical Education of New York Medical College is dedicated to identifying the educational needs of physicians, other health-care professionals, and educators, to improve their skills and knowledge in order to narrow their professional practice gaps to assist them in continuing to provide superior medical care to their patients. CME provided activities shall foster the mission of the Office of CME.
A representative from individual clinical departments, activity directors and a CME representative from affiliated hospitals and outside organizations must be in direct contact with CME staff when planning activities requesting CME providership. CME staff will review the application process and discuss CME fees and be available to assist in all phases of the activity. A planning document (activity application) with supporting documentation must be submitted to the CME Office in a timely manner prior to the date of the activity for review and designation of CME credit. Once the activity application has been reviewed by the CME Office, a providership agreement will be drafted that outlines the responsibilities of the Activity Director and the CME Office. It is imperative that the Activity Director remain in complete control of activity planning (including the selection of the planning committee members, activity faculty, activity design, learning objectives, activity content, and outcomes measurement) and allow no commercial entity any involvement in the planning, disseminating or execution of the activity.
All CME activities must be developed to address a physician need as identified by a demonstrated gap in practice of the group at which the activity is directed. Supporting documentation that the gap exists must be provided with the activity application. If the supporting documentation is not directly related to the target audience, the activity director must show how this data is connected to a gap of the target audience.
Once the professional practice gap has been identified, the reason for the gap should be explained as due to the target audience's deficits in: knowledge, competence, or performance. Based on the reason for the gap a goal for the activity should be developed to address this gap. This goal should be articulated in terms of changing the learners' competence, performance, and/or patient outcomes. The activity format and content must relate directly to the activity goal and be supported by specific and measureable learning objectives that are designed to help achieve the activity goal.
Each CME activity must also be evaluated for how successful it was at meeting the activity goal and reducing the professional practice gap. The evaluation method should be designed to measure the desired result of changing competence, performance, and/or patient outcomes.
All CME activities must address at least one of the ACGME/ABMS Core Competencies of:
The Office of CME strictly abides by the ACCME's Updated Standards for Commercial Support. All funds from a commercial entity must be given with the full knowledge of the CME Office and must be in the form of an educational grant. Letters of Agreement must be obtained from and signed by each commercial supporter, the activity director, CME representative, and the NYMC Chief Financial Officer PRIOR to the acceptance of any funds. Copies of these agreements must be submitted to the CME Office and maintained in the activity file.
An appropriate acknowledgement of commercial supporters is necessary prior to the start of the CME activity. Acknowledgements must be printed on brochures and/or included in syllabi or other program materials. The exact nature (e.g. printing of brochures, loan of equipment, etc.) of any in-kind support must be acknowledged.
The Office of CME will not accept commercial support for the Regularly Scheduled Series.
A budget must be submitted for each CME activity. Items to be included are registration fees, printing and mailing costs, catering, honoraria and travel, etc. CME Staff can assist in budget development but MUST approve all disbursements BEFORE they are made.
To foster education and comply with the ACCME's Updated Standards for Commercial Support, social events or meals at CME activities cannot compete with or take precedence over the educational activities. To ensure that education remains the main focus of a CME event, social events are permitted only if:
In accordance with the ACCME Updated Criteria and Standards for Commercial Support, it is the policy of New York Medical College to insure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all its provided educational activities. All planners and faculty participating in any CME provided activities must disclose to the activity audience the existence of any significant financial or other relationships with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients, and or with any potential commercial supporters of the activity. The intent of this policy is for the provider to identify and resolve any potential conflict of interest to ensure that all presentations are free from bias. Based on the information provided, New York Medical College will take steps to identify and resolve any potential conflict of interest of activity planners and faculty related to this activity. However, it remains for the audience to make the final determination as to whether the presentations reflect a possible bias in either the exposition or the conclusions presented. Any activity planning or faculty member who refuses to disclose financial or other significant relationships will be barred from participation in the planning and/or execution of the CME activity.
Significant financial interest or other relationships can include such things as grants or research support, employee, consultant, major stockholder, member of Speakers' Bureau, etc.
Faculty and planner disclosures must be made known to participants prior to the activity, either by verbalization, and/or inclusion in brochures, slides, or syllabi. A written disclosure by each author/faculty/planner member must be included in each enduring material.
EACH ACTIVITY PLANNER AND FACULTY MEMBER MUST SUBMIT A SIGNED DISCLOSURE STATEMENT TO THE CME OFFICE PRIOR TO THE ACTIVITY.
Each activity announcement for any CME provided activity must include a list of program faculty (including academic title and affiliation), an activity outline, program goal and learning objectives, and the appropriate accreditation/disclosure statements. The final draft of the announcement must be reviewed and approved by the CME staff prior to distribution.
The CME staff must REVIEW AND APPROVE final "blues" of brochures before printing. The New York Medical College Logo must appear in the brochure. The statement "Provided by the Office of CME at New York Medical College" must appear on the front of the brochure. The CME staff can assist in brochure development.
The appropriate accreditation/disclosure statement must appear on all materials that contain course content and faculty. Examples include flyers, brochures, and course syllabi. It is not necessary to include the statement on program "save-the-date" type of announcements.
All participants must record their attendance in eeds by following the sign-in instructions that are provided at the start of the activity. Participants will then be instructed to complete the evaluation form.
CME certificates and certificates of attendance can be obtained via eeds once the evaluation has been completed.
APPROVAL OF THE CME ACTIVITY APPLICATION WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FINAL UNTIL ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION IS SUBMITTED TO THE CME OFFICE.
THE CME OFFICE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO WITHDRAW CME PROVIDERSHIP IF THE ACTIVITY APPLICATION IS INCOMPLETE OR NON-COMPLIANT WITH THE GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES AS OUTLINED ABOVE.