Medical Education Resources

As 2012 draws to and end, we reflect on the past year and look ahead to 2013.  It has been a year of ongoing challenges in the continuing education field.  Most of us are working harder in a field where the only thing we can depend on is more change ahead.

 We look to the coming year with anticipation and thanks.  Over MER’s 27 years we have built long term and trusting relationships with our educational partners.  Through these collaborations, we have provided some valuable and worthwhile continuing education activities that have provided healthcare clinicians with relevant education to better care for their patient population.

We wish you all Season’s Greetings and look forward to serving you in 2013.

With an increase in popularity of web based continuing education activities, we find that a growing number of our participants are non-US physicians.  Many times, we receive the question, “Will these CME credits transfer for me?”

I thought it would be helpful to provide a bit of information on transfer of credit.

“The American Medical Association (AMA) has an agreement of mutual recognition of continuing medical education (CME) credit with the European Union of Medical Specialties (UEMS). Under the terms of this agreement, renewed in 2010, the AMA will convert CME credit for live and e-learning activities certified by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), the accrediting arm of the UEMS, to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^™. Physicians (MDs, DOs or equivalent international degree) may have their EACCME credit converted to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^{™.  “}

There is a specific procedure for transfering of credit.  Further information on this may be found on the AMA website at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/education-careers/continuing-medical-education/physicians-recognition-award-credit-system/other-ways-earn-ama-pra-category/international-programs/uemseaccme-credit-conversion.page

For questions on this, or any other continuing education related question, please contact Lori Conwell, CCMEP at lori@cmepartner.org.

Resource: www.ama-assn.org

This information may be valuable for planning, needs assessments and marketing your future CME activities.

California: pain management, geriatric medicine, end-of-life care

Connecticut: infectious disease, risk management, sexual assault, domestic violence, cultural competence

Florida: MDs — HIV/AIDS, prevention of medical errors, domestic violence

Iowa: identifying and reporting abuse (for primary care physicians), chronic pain management, end-of-life care

Kentucky: domestic violence (for primary care physicians), HIV/AIDS

Massachusetts: pain management, opioid education (for physicians who prescribe controlled substances), end-of-life care, risk management

Nevada: medical ethics, weapons of mass destruction/bioterrorism, safe injection practices

New Jersey: cultural competency

New York: infection control, child abuse

Oregon: pain management and end-of-life care

Pennsylvania: patient safety, risk management

Rhode Island: bloodborne pathogens, bioterrorism, end-of-life care, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, medical ethics, pain management, infection control, palliative care

Tennessee: prescribing controlled substances, pain management (for physicians who provide pain management)

Texas: medical ethics, professional responsibility

West Virginia: end-of-life care, pain management

Sources: American Medical Association, Federation of State Medical Boards

This month I wanted to provide an update with respect to the Sunshine Act.   To summarize, the original intent of the Sunshine Act was to shed light on direct payments from product manufacturers to physicians and other medical practitioners.  In its original form, the Sunshine Act excluded continuing medical education because the payments of grant support were indirect payments.  Unexpectedly, Health and Human Services declared that it would rely upon a recently added “catch-all” provision in the Act that would include reporting from CME providers. 

Recently The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging held a roundtable discussion and in that discussion strong support was offered by the AMA and others that certified CME is beyond the intent of the Sunshine Act.    Ultimately, the final decisions should be made later this year and potential reporting will begin in 2013. 

We will continue to watch the developments closely and inform all of our partners of the outcome.     

All physicians who are board certified by any of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) twenty-four specialty boards will need to complete MOC.

MOC is a four-part Process for continuous learning and is designed to continuously measure the ABMS’s six core competencies of patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal communication skills, professionalism and systems-based practice.

To complete an MOC, physicians follow these steps:

Part I —Licensure and Professional Standing
Physicians must hold a valid, unrestricted medical license

Part II—Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment
Physicians participate in educational and self-assessment programs determined their member board
Part III—Cognitive Expertise
Physicians demonstrate specialty-specific skills and knowledge

Part IV—Practice Performance Assessment
Physicians demonstrate their use of best evidence and practices compared to peers and national benchmarks

Where does continuing education fit into this process?  I have learned that accredited providers can help physicians complete Part 2 of the process by developing specific board approved activities that will address the standards of their member board.  

This is a great opportunity to look outside the “one and done” activities and develop cme that makes a difference in the way physicians practice medicine and in turn the health outcomes of their patients.

For questions on MOC or any other continuing education question, please contact Lori Conwell, CCMEP at lori@cmepartner.org

Resource:

http://www.abms.org

In the CME/CE world, we follow various criterion and guidelines for planning, implementing and evaluating our activities. This gives us step by step, right and wrong supervision so that we ensure our activities are compliant.   But I wondered if there was anything less process driven and more thought driven that guides us in continuing education.    Well, I was happy to see that there actually is a “CME Code of Conduct”. 

I invite you to take a look at this.  While it speaks to disclosure, transparency and funding, this code of conduct has simple verbiage that talks about commitments and pledges and in the end, to always keep the best interests of patients in mind.

This document was prepared by the group, CME Coalition and can be found at http://cmecoalition.org/content/code-conduct .

Let me know if you would like to discuss this Code of Conduct, or any other related topic lori@cmepartner.org

We are proud to announce that Medical Education Resources has successfully met all eleven standards to become a Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Accredited Provider by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR).  This accreditation is recognized by Registered Dietitians (RD) and Dietetic Technicians, Registered (DTR) as well as related licensure certifying agencies.

As a CDR accredited provider, Medical Education Resources will:

· Expand to a new target audience of over 77,000 credentialed dietetics professionals in the US

· Our accredited activities will be listed on the CDR website and made available to all dietetic professionals.

·  Medical Education Resources will receive an annual report from the CDR which outlines dietetic practitioners’ current learning interests for planning valuable, targeted educational initiatives.

We feel that this additional certification adds another level of service for our educational partners and will help us reach additional healthcare providers with relevant continuing education.    We welcome the opportunity to speak with you about this or any of our services.

Please contact Lori Conwell, CCMEP, Senior Account Manager at lori@cmepartner.org  or 720-473-6128.

This month I wanted to provide an update of some changes coming for pharmacy certified activities.  As you know, Medical Education Resources is an accredited provider of pharmacy credit through the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).  We sponsor many educational interventions that target a multi-disciplinary team of healthcare providers and included in this team are pharmacists.

The ACPE together with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has developed an electronic system for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to track their completed continuing pharmacy education (CPE) credits. This new system is called the CPE Monitor™.   It will also offer boards of pharmacy the opportunity to electronically authenticate the CPE units completed by their licensees, rather than requiring pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to submit their proof of completion statements (i.e. statements of credit) upon request or for random audits.

What will this new system mean for Medical Education Resources and our partners? We have now begun asking pharmacist participants to provide their NABP assigned e-Profile ID and date of birth (DOB in MMDD format) on the evaluation form or online evaluation template.  It is the responsibility of the pharmacist to provide the correct information in order to receive credit for participating in a CPE activity.

 MER has been proactive and we have already begun requiring and compiling this information for submission to the CPE Monitor™ System.   We expect that this system should run smooth and be “user friendly” by midyear.  We strive to ensure that our CPE activities will continue to remain compliant as well as beneficial to our valued pharmacist participants.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this or any continuing education question at lori@cmepartner.org

Welcome to my first blog. 

I recently participated in a webinar that focused on the value and importance of communication.  Accurate communication between healthcare providers and their patients as well as communication and interaction between organizations and individuals is vital to the success of a partnership. I hope this form of communication is helpful, informative and shows our commitment to the relationships we have with our partners in education.

Sunshine Law Follow-up

Many of you may be following the progress of the Sunshine Act and the potential impact on continuing education.  February 17^th was the deadline to submit comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the proposed rules of the act.  Medical Education Resources, along with over 100 other organizations including the ACEHP and the AAFP, have submitted comments expressing concern about the proposed regulations. We will let you know of any additional information that is disseminated.

Discussion for March

I have had several partners ask me about the Certified Continuing Medical Education Professional (CCMEP) designation.  This is a certification program for individuals in the continuing medical education (CME) field who wish to demonstrate their competence and earn the designation of Certified CME Professional.  The National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals oversees the certification process.  We feel that the certification is an asset to our organization and all of MER’s account managers hold this certification. The education gained is not only valuable as an accredited provider, but the importance associated with the CCMEP distinction continues to grow and elevate the level of knowledge within the profession.  We view this as one facet of our responsibility to stay current in the CME field.  Through this continued education we ensure that the jointly sponsored activities we produce meet the high standards we all expect.

Further information about becoming a CCMEP may be found at http://www.nccme.org/

Please let me know if I can help answer any questions  lori@cmepartner.org

Lori Conwell, CCMEP

Senior Account Manager, Medical Education Resources