TMA Accreditation Connection: August 2013

 Three Providers Receive Accreditation With Commendation

At its June meeting, the Texas Medical Association Committee on Continuing Education awarded Accreditation with Commendation, which confers a six-year term of accreditation, to three providers. 

Congratulations:

  • Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi,
  • Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, and
  • Sierra Providence Health Network in El Paso. 

TMA has awarded Accreditation with Commendation to 39 percent of the 59 providers that it has reviewed under the 2007 TMA Accreditation Criteria. TMA accredits 62 providers. 

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 TMA Supports ACCME Simplification Proposal

In May, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) announced a Proposal for Simplifying and Evolving the Accreditation Requirements and Process. ACCME wants to streamline the accreditation process and requirements as well as strengthen support for CME as a strategic asset to health care improvement initiatives. The proposed changes reflect the feedback ACCME received from its stakeholders over the past year about the value of the accreditation criteria and process. Feedback revealed that some of the criteria are redundant or are not useful to the accreditation system.
 
In summary, highlights of the proposal:

  • Amend Criterion 1 Mission: Omit the first four components ― purpose, target audience, content, types of activities ― and retain the reference to expected results. This supports learning and change.
  • Delete Criterion 4, Activities/Educational interventions around learners’ current scope of practice. Redundant with Criterion 2, which asks providers to identify practice gaps of their own learners.
  • Combine Criteria 12 and 13, using the current language. This would mean evaluating the mission statement and identifying improvements/changes in the overall CME program.
  • Delete Criterion 14, implementing changes. This is implied in Criteria 12 and 13.
  • Delete Criterion 15, measuring changes. This is also implied in Criteria 12 and 13.

ACCME asks us to focus on what criteria might be useful in Accreditation with Commendation. The idea is to create a menu of options from which a provider could choose to demonstrate compliance. For now, the proposal is to:

  • Delete Criterion 16. The provider integrates CME into the process for improving professional practice. This occurs in Criteria 2 and 3.
  • Delete Criterion 18. The provider identifies factors outside its control that impact patient outcomes. This most often is reflected in Criterion 19.
  • Delete Criterion 22. The provider is positioned to influence the scope and content of educational interventions. This does add value ― everyone is in compliance with this one.
  • Policies for Commercial Support. Providers may not use corporate logos of commercial interests in educational materials or acknowledgements.
  • Policy on Joint Sponsorship. The term would become “joint providership” to be consistent with other policies that no longer use the word “sponsor” to refer to accredited providers.
  • Policies on Enduring Materials, Internet CME, and Journal CME. This would be updated to reflect the evolution of standard practices by accredited providers through technology.

Feedback from accredited providers at the 2013 Texas CME Conference in June and from members of TMA’s Committee on Continuing Education and its Subcommittee on Accreditation overwhelmingly supported the proposal. Next steps include review by the ACCME Board of Directors of the feedback from stakeholders to the proposal, followed by a formal comment period in 2014. This is a proposal at this point ― no accreditation requirements and policies have been changed

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 ACCME Annual Report Data Released

ACCME released the 2012 Annual Report. The 2012 report features expanded data analysis, including data from state-accredited providers, to provide more information about the CME accreditation system. There is a new section of the report specific to state-accredited providers.

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  PARS Is Available for 2013 Activity Data

The Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) on ACCME’s website is available for you to enter data about your 2013 activities.
 
If you are new to your organization and need information about your organization for PARS, email Casey Harrison in the TMA CME office. Do not contact ACCME, as it will direct you to TMA. Also, if no representative from your organization has participated in PARS training, contact the TMA CME office for a consultation. 

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 REMS on Long-Acting Extended Release Opioids

TMA, as part of the State Medical Society Collaborative working with CO*RE (Collaborative for REMS Education), received a grant to support five live activities across the state. The CME-accredited activities will present the required FDA content to educate prescribers of long-acting extended-release opioids on the benefits and correct use of certain pain medicines with the goal of reducing the national prescription drug abuse epidemic.
 
Four of the five activities will be presented by TMA-accredited organizations: Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare in El Paso; Covenant Health System in Lubbock; Houston Northwest Medical Center; and Gulf Coast AHEC in Corpus Christi. The fifth activity will be presented by Travis County Medical Society in the Austin area.
 
Congratulations to these organizations for participating with TMA in this very important project! 

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 Policy Pick: The 30-Percent Rule

To be eligible for accreditation by TMA, the organization must “serve a target audience of no more than 30 percent of physician learners from outside Texas and its contiguous states. Organizations with a national audience should apply for accreditation from the ACCME.” (See p. 8, TMA’s Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education Providers in Texas.) What this means follows.

  • You need to keep track of physician attendees beyond Texas and its contiguous states; physicians from contiguous states are part of your accreditation.
  • You can hold CME meetings in any location ― just keep track of those outside Texas and its contiguous states.

If the number of physician attendees from beyond Texas and its contiguous states exceeds 30 percent of the total physician attendance over an accreditation period, national accreditation may be indicated. 

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Last Updated On

February 09, 2021

Originally Published On

March 27, 2014

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