A collaborative platform for paperless relicensing
A collaborative platform for paperless relicensing
C(M)E consists of educational activities that 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 C(M)E is the body of knowledge and skills generally recognised 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 (HOD policy #300.988)
Source: https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/default/files/media-browser/public/cme/pra-booklet_0.pdf
Continuing professional development (CPD), or continuing physician professional development (CPPD), includes all activities that doctors undertake, both formally and informally, including C(M)E, to maintain, update, develop and enhance their knowledge, skills and attitudes in response to the needs of their patients.
Accredited C(M)E is defined as:
Non-promotional learning activities certified for credit before the activity by an organization authorized by the credit system owner.
OR
Non-promotional learning activities for which the credit system owner directly awards credit.
Accredited C(M)E providers may certify non-clinical subjects (e.g. office management, patient–physician communications, faculty development) for credits as long as these are appropriate to a physician audience and benefit the profession, patient care or public health. C(M)E activities may describe or explain complementary and alternative healthcare practices. As with any C(M)E activity, these need to include a discussion of the current scientific evidence that supports the practices. However, education that advocates specific alternative therapies or teaches how to perform associated procedures without scientific evidence or general acceptance among the profession that supports their efficacy and safety cannot be certified credits.
Source: https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/default/files/media-browser/public/cme/pra-booklet_0.pdf
Activities ineligible for accreditation:
C(M)E credits may not be claimed for learning that is incidental to the regular professional activities or practice of a health professional, such as learning that occurs from:
Source: https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/default/files/media-browser/public/cme/pra-booklet_0.pdf
A C(M)E credit is the ‘currency’ assigned to C(M)E activities. Physicians and other health-care professionals use credits to meet requirements for maintenance of licensure, maintenance of speciality board certification, credentialing, membership in professional societies and other professional privileges. The criteria for credit designation are determined by the organization responsible for the credit system.
You can earn credits by studying C(M)E modules for which your professional body has approved accreditation.
On our website, the endorsement history of each module has been displayed, so you can verify whether or not your professional body accredits the module of your choice.
You can study modules that your professional body still needs to accredit. We will update your portfolio if they decide to recognise the content provider retrospectively. CMEPEDIA does not guarantee that your professional body will accredit a particular provider in the future. We only facilitate your professional body to do so with a few clicks of a mouse.
Some professional bodies allow professionals to self-claim and document credits in activities not certified for standard credits. CMEPEDIA enables medical professionals to upload certificates for such activities into their portfolio. However, CMEPEDIA does not assume any responsibility for recognising such activities by professional bodies.
Eligibility for credits can only be claimed by and awarded to healthcare professionals and students. CMEPEDIA maintains an overview on its website of the activities endorsed by professional bodies and recognised by institutions.
The council of medical education, which awards the original credits (e.g. the American Medical Association [AMA] for the AMA physician’s recognition award [PRA] credit system), monitors for compliance with their credit system. They do so in several ways—through the accreditation self-study process, the investigation of complaints received and the review of information found in the public domain. Whenever warranted, the Council will proceed with follow-up inquiries to ascertain and address compliance with credit system requirements. If a C(M)E provider fails to bring its content into compliance with its policies, the privilege to designate credits will be withdrawn.
Professional bodies in developing countries can endorse the process of quality control exercised by the council of medical education in the land of origin of the C(M)E provider to avoid duplication of effort.
CMEPEDIA distributes enduring learning materials. An enduring material is a certified C(M)E activity that endures over a specified time. These include print, audio, video and Internet materials such as monographs, podcasts, CD-ROMs, DVDs, archived webinars, and other web-based activities.
To be certified for credits, an enduring material activity must:
Designating and awarding credit for participation in an enduring material
Credit designation for each enduring material must be determined by a mechanism developed by the accredited C(M)E provider to establish a good faith estimate of the amount of time a physician will take to complete the activity to achieve its purpose and/or learning objectives (e.g. the average time it takes a small sample group of the target audience to complete the material). Credit is designated in 15-minute or 0.25 credit increments, and accredited C(M)E providers must round off to the nearest quarter hour.
Credit should be awarded only to physicians who meet the minimum performance level on the assessment as established by the accredited C(M)E provider.
CMPEDIA allows health-care professionals to upload other C(M)E activities into their portfolios, such as attendance at live events, journal-based C(M)E activities, test writing and manuscript reviews. However, CMEPEDIA does not assume any responsibility for accepting the credits by the concerned professional body or institute of the health-care professional. Acceptance of such credits remains at the discretion of the professional body or institute.
Whenever a premium user of CMPEDIA completes a C(M)E activity successfully via the website, the credit is added to his portfolio. A basic user can print out a certificate of the activity. A basic user can upgrade to a premium user status to obtain access to his portfolio.
CMEPEDIA sends a link to every premium user to the healthcare professional's private and/or professional email address so that they can maintain this record for personal use throughout their careers.
Health professionals and other participants may be awarded different credits than the credits given to the original professional category a module was designed for. However, accredited C(M)E providers may choose to issue documentation of participation to these participants that states that the activity was certified for a certain credit.
CMEPEDIA considers that a financial relationship creates a conflict of interest with C(M)E when an individual has a financial relationship with a commercial interest and the opportunity to affect the content of C(M)E about the products or services of that commercial interest. The potential for maintaining or increasing the value of the financial relationship with the commercial interest creates an incentive to influence the content of the C(M)E—an incentive to insert commercial bias. CMEPEDIA monitors the conflict of interests of its modules. C(M)E providers must complete a disclaimer on the interests of every author whenever they submit a module to the CMEPEDIA database.
CMEPEDIA uses three categories to distinguish between varying degrees of conflict of interest—content that is entirely free of a conflict of interest (green), content that potentially has a conflict of interest (amber) and content where there is a higher risk of a conflict of interest (red). This colour coding is displayed on the website to inform users before a purchase.
Submit a complaint online using the ACCME complaint form.
Healthcare professionals and students should note that CMEPEDIA does not serve as a direct measure of the competency of a healthcare professional or a student; neither should CMEPEDIA be used for that purpose. The competence of a healthcare professional or student represents the assessment of many complex measures, of which C(M)E participation is only one.