Vivacity Consulting

Bringing energy and experience to your CME activity

Value-Added CME – Part 1 in an ongoing series

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(In this series, I discuss my personal experiences as a continuing medical education professional devoted to providing “Value-Added CME,” that is, medical education that is compliant with accreditation requirements, engages the learners, and ultimately leads to better care for all patients, including myself and my family.)

Value-Added CME – Our Identity in Crisis

Last week, when talking with someone totally unfamiliar with my profession, I was confronted with the ramifications of the recent negative publicity about Continuing Medical Education: he asked, “aren’t conferences for doctors just a place where they go to meet their girlfriends and get connected to the drug companies?”  Now, his comment was made a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it certainly points to the massive identity problem we are facing.

What publicity, you ask?  How about this article in the Atlantic about the Sunshine Act exemption of CME (nod to Derick Warnick, aka The CME Guy) in which the Atlantic quotes Ed Silverman as saying, “‘CME providers exist to facilitate the messages propagated by manufacturers … By deciding disclosure is not warranted, the administration is allowing a form of laundering to be sanctioned.'”

Another instance where professional misunderstanding comes into play: one of my hospital clients had to battle, I mean battle, with her legal department to get an honorarium check cut for a faculty presenter.  This expert was brought in to provide 5 hours of intensive training, developed specifically for the organization, which required many hours of preparation.  The CME Manager had followed the approved honorarium policy to the “t”.  But the legal department was worried that paying the honorarium might violate Stark laws (i.e. be perceived as kick-backs)!

Who is responsible for educating the world about our profession?  Anyone and everyone reading this!  In the instance of my client, the CME Manager, she wisely took this experience as an opportunity to call a meeting with the legal and accounting department to review the policies and procedures regarding CME.  Thomas Sullivan has been a loud advocate for CME during the  Sunshine Act saga, on his excellent website, www.policymed.com.  And in the instance of my (somewhat boorish) acquaintance, I straightened him out!

Benchmark CME Reaccredited by the ACCME

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Vivacity Consulting client, Benchmark CME, has been resurveyed by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and awarded accreditation for four years as a provider of CME for physicians.

Accreditation by the ACCME assures both physicians and the public that the CME activities provided by Benchmark CME meet the high standards of the Essential Areas, Elements and Policies for Accreditation as specified by the ACCME. The ACCME rigorously evaluates the overall CME programs of institutions according to standards adopted by its seven sponsoring organizations: the American Board of Medical Specialties; the American Hospital Association; the American Medical Association; the Association for Hospital Medical Education; the Association of American Medical Colleges; the Council of Medical Specialty Societies; and the Federation of State Medical Boards of the U.S., Inc.

All physicians will interact with the legal system at some point in their career, but they do not receive training in medical school in this arena. Benchmark CME trains physicians in necessary medical-legal skills. Benchmark CME also provides joint sponsorship opportunities for non-accredited organizations.

Practice Gaps Manuscript Published in “Surgical Endoscopy”

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Erin Schwarz is named as an author on the recently published manuscript, “Practice Gaps in gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery (2011): a report from the Society of American Gastrointenstinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Continuing Education Committee”.  In the manuscript, we detail our analysis of survey data from attendees at the 2011 SAGES Annual Meeting.

Surgical Endoscopy subscribers can locate the article here, or contact Vivacity Consulting for additional information.

Report from the 2012 Alliance for CME Meeting

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BYOBP: Bring Your Own Best Practice- Share What You Do Well and Ask For Help For What You Don’t
Alliance for CME Intensive Session

Great session at the Alliance! Informal results from my table: One attendee did not understand the measurement of competence vs performance and she definitely understood the distinction by the end. Another discovered that she needed to review her mission statement immediately as they were up for reaccreditation in 1 year (and had some great ideas about how to change it). Another decided to audit a few of their activities now so that she was not surprised when it came time for reaccreditation, and she also found out that the surveyors’ forms were on the ACCME website.

Thanks to the faculty who made this session so useful!

Pam Beaton, BS, American College of Cardiology; Kevin Heffernan, American Medical Association; Steven Folstein, M.Ed., American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Deborah A Samuel, MBA, American Academy of Pediatrics; Laura R. Johnson, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery; Rachel Shnekendorf, MPH, Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Alliance for CME Evaluation Results just in … Here are some of the comments from attendees:

  • Awesome session. Excellent interaction. Good practical tips.
  • Excellent session with fantastic presenters and a high level of interactivity. Attendees from a variety of provider types shared their experiences, enriching the
  • experience.
  • Excellent session! I learned so much from the presentors and the other CME professionals at my table.
  • I learned so much from my CME provider peers in this session; it could’ve lasted the entire day!!
  • Really appreciate these discussion-oriented, practical, problem-solving conversation.
  • This was great! Issues and solutions were discussed. Very helpful!