Compliance Reminder: Commercial Interest Definition
ACCME reminds all accredited CME providers to ensure their organizations are using the current definition of a commercial interest as revised in 2007. The current definition reads: “A commercial interest is any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.” Some providers have not added “marketing, re-selling, or distributing” to their processes and forms.
CME providers must use the complete definition. Failure to do so could cause an accredited provider to:
- Partner with an ACCME-defined commercial interest;
- Collect incomplete information about the relevant financial relationships of those in control of content, and therefore not resolve all conflicts of interest and/or not disclose all relevant financial relationships to learners, and
- Be found in noncompliance in Criterion 7 (Standards for Commercial Support 1, 2, and 6).
Access new FAQs on this topic on the ACCME website.
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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. Access PARS in the For CME Providers section of www.accme.org using your email address and provider identification number. If you are new to your organization and need information about your organization for PARS, please contact Billie Dalrymple 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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Annual Fee Invoices Coming Soon
Annual fees for continued accreditation of your CME program are due Jan. 31, 2014. Invoices will be mailed in December. Please note the fee schedule (under Resources for Accreditation).
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ACCME Video Pick: Engaging Stakeholders in Planning Accredited CME Activities
ACCME offers videos (and transcripts of the videos) on topics of interest to all accredited CME providers. One of the most repeated comments from the evaluation summary of the 2013 Texas CME Conference related to challenges in your CME office with engaging physician planners in activity planning. This is often a symptom of using a complicated planning form that asks the physician planner questions related to your compliance with the accreditation criteria. Instead, your interaction with the planner should be a discussion of why an activity is beneficial and the expected outcomes. In this video, Murray Kopelow, MD, discusses a simpler approach with a simpler dialogue.
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New CME Staff at TMA
Billie Dalrymple, director of CME, will retire on Dec. 31, 2013. TMA is happy to announce that Casey Harrison, MBA, will join the staff as the new director of CME on Dec. 2. Ms. Harrison is currently the CME manager for Seton Healthcare Family in Austin and is past president of the Texas Alliance for CME. She has more than 17 years of experience in CME at Seton and has been involved nationally with the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions as a speaker and as a member of the State and Regional Organizations Committee.
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Stay Up to Date in CME
- Sign up for ACCME Report, a newsletter published three times each year, and for special announcements from ACCME.
- Sign up for the American Medical Association MedEd Update newsletter.
- Access American Medical Association FAQs related to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.
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