Vivacity Consulting

Bringing energy and experience to your CME activity

Reporting Learners to PARS? How to Get Started with a Pilot Project

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Getting Started with Learner Credit Reporting in PARS: A Step-by-Step Guide for CME Providers

As a medical education consultant, I’ve worked with many CME providers who are eager to streamline their processes, support lifelong learning, and reduce administrative burden for their teams and physician learners. One of the most impactful ways to do this is by reporting individual learner credit data through the ACCME’s Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS).

Starting with a small pilot can help your organization ease into this process while learning the system. And now, with recent requirements from the American Board of Surgery (ABS), the need for learner credit reporting has become even more urgent.

Why Now? The ABS Requirement

As of 2023, the American Board of Surgery will no longer allow surgeons to self-report their CME credits. Instead, CME providers must submit credit on behalf of surgeon learners via PARS. This change makes it essential for providers who educate surgeons to begin learner credit reporting as soon as possible. If your organization provides CME to surgeons, start your pilot with this group. It will help your learners stay in compliance with Continuous Certification requirements and prevent delays in their certification and license renewal processes.

Why Start with a Pilot?

Launching a pilot allows your organization to:

  • Test the Process: Learn how to navigate PARS in a low-risk setting
  • Identify Barriers Early: Work through technical or administrative challenges
  • Demonstrate Value: Show stakeholders how this supports learners and accreditation alignment

Step-by-Step Guide to Launching Your Pilot

  1. Select a Pilot Activity
    • Choose a recent or upcoming CME activity with a manageable number of learners.
    • Make sure the activity is already entered into PARS.
  2. Gather Learner Information For each learner, you’ll need:
    • First and last name
    • State of licensure
    • License number or National Provider Identifier (NPI)
    • Date of birth (month and day only)
    • Date of activity completion
    • Confirmation of consent to report their data (if needed)
  3. Choose a Reporting Method
    • Manual Entry (best for small groups)
    • Excel Batch Upload
    • Automated Web Services Integration with your LMS
  4. Submit Data in PARS
    • Log in to PARS, locate the activity, and upload learner data.
    • Review and validate the submission.
  5. Evaluate and Refine
    • Solicit feedback from learners and staff.
    • Note technical hiccups or workflow issues and adjust accordingly.

Benefits of Learner Credit Reporting

  • For Surgeons: Required for ABS Continuous Certification
  • For Providers: Positions your CME program as responsive and learner-centered
  • For Regulators: Improves data accuracy and simplifies license renewal processes

Helpful Resources

Take the First Step

Getting started with a pilot is the most efficient way to build comfort and capability with learner credit reporting. And for providers serving surgeons, it’s no longer optional.

Start small and start soon!

Need help planning your pilot or selecting tools to streamline the process? Contact me if you would like assistance.

Vivacity Consulting invited to present at ACCME 2025 Conference

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April 2025: Ms. Schwarz will lead a session entitled, “Your Path to Scholarly Success: Strategies for Research and Publication for JA & ACCME Commendation Criteria” on April 25, 2025 during the ACCME Learn to Thrive Annual Meeting. The session provides a step-by-step framework for turning ideas into impactful research and highlights publication opportunities for CE professionals. By the end, participants will be equipped with the tools and motivation to engage in meaningful scholarship and make lasting contributions to CE.

Adding Value to Your CME Program: ABIM Part 2 MOC Credits

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CME Providers: Add ABIM Part 2 MOC Credits to Your Program Now

You are already providing high quality medical education to your physician learners. You can now help learners even more by providing required American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) medical knowledge points.

The ABIM requires physicians to obtain 20 medical knowledge points every five years, and must complete at least one MOC activity every two years. Your activities can be adapted to satisfy this requirement.

Over 200,000 physicians in the United States are Board Certified by the ABIM, including internal medicine physicians, and specialists in endocrinology, rheumatology, cardiology, infectious disease, gastroenterology, critical care, medical oncology, and more.

Help your physicians fulfill their requirements by adding ABIM Part 2 MOC credits to your CME program.

Recently, the ABIM have revised requirements so that accredited CME providers may offer education that is eligible for MOC points. This opportunity adds tremendous value to your CME program. 

All regulatory changes require a modified approach to compliance, but the ABIM and ACCME/IMQ have collaborated to minimize the impact upon providers. You probably do not need to make very many changes to the excellent education you are already offering. At the recent IMQ Provider Conference, the ACCME CEO, Dr. Graham McMahon encouraged CME providers to consider adding ABIM Part 2 MOC to their program.

If this will add value to your activities and your organization in the eyes of attendees, but you are not sure how to make this happen, Vivacity Consulting can help. We are seasoned CME professionals with extensive experience working with hospitals, health systems, specialty societies and medical education companies.

Please contact us to learn about our pricing structure. We will assess your program, help you edit your documentation, recommend process improvements, and assist with reporting requirements.

If you are ready to give physicians the credit they deserve for the education you are already providing, contact Vivacity Consulting to help.

You might be interested in the following post as well, entitled, “Who Me, Provide MOC?”

Vivacity Consulting Invited to Present at 2016 ACEhp Conference

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Vivacity Consulting will Present during the Alliance for CE in the Health Professions 2016 Conference

Ms. Schwarz will lead two sessions at the ACEhp Conference, to be held Jan 13 – 16, 2016 at the Gaylord National, National Harbor, Maryland (near Washington DC).

Shades of Gray: Drawing the Line on Employees of Commercial Interests

Thursday, January 14, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM

Primary Presenter:

Erin Schwarz, CEO/Principal Consultant, Vivacity Consulting, LLC, Foothill Ranch, California

Co-Presenter(s):

Jacqueline Steltz-Lenarsky, MA, Manager, Continuing Medical Education, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, California

Anne Grupe, MSEd, Director, CME, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Alexandria, Virginia

Session Description
As the healthcare landscape gets more complex, many organizations are finding that they must to react to situations instead of being prepared proactively. This applies particularly to the issues relating to the use of employees of commercial interests.

During this session, we will outline four elements that must be involved when considering

  • What do the rules say (and not say)?
  • What are your audience needs?
  • How do you make a decision as interpreter of these rules? What is your policy?
  • How do you reassess your policy so it is a living document?

Throughout the presentation we will give examples from our own experiences. Attendees will gain new ideas and strategies that they might implement into their own practice as they guide their own programs to compliant, impactful education.

 

My Crummy Story: How I Got Out of a Bad Situation and How You Can Too

Friday, January 15, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Primary Presenter:

Erin Schwarz, CEO/Principal Consultant, Vivacity Consulting, LLC, Foothill Ranch, California

Co-Presenter(s):

Philip A. Dombrowski, MBA, FACEHP, President, PD Associates, Bomoseen, Vermont

Art Arellano, Professional Education Manager, American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL)

Session Description
Have you every found yourself in a crummy situation and wished you had a fairy godmother that could get you out of it? The ACEhp can be the source of multiple fairy godmothers (and godfathers). In this session, three experienced CE professionals will present on some difficult cases they have faced relating to compliance, leadership and faculty, and how they were able to resolve the situation in part due to advice from their network and mentors. Audience members will share their own crummy stories and successes with each other in round tables, with the expectation that they can serve as resources for each other and help each other find solutions to pressing problems. At the conclusion of this activity, we expect that attendees will leave with an expanded contact list of other CE professionals to whom they can turn when faced with challenging or concerning situations in the future.

Vivacity Consulting Invited to Present at 2015 ACEHP

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Ms. Schwarz to Present at the 2015 ACEhp Meeting

Ms. Schwarz has been invited to present two times at the ACEhp (Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions) Conference in Grapevine, Texas, January 14 – 17, 2015.

Ms. Schwarz will participate as part of a panel entitled, “Mapping Success for the Learner, the Supporter, and the Organization” on Thursday, January 15th at 1:15 pm with the following co-presenters:

Content Development
Kristen Flemming, Manager, Self-Assessment and CME Publications, Endocrine Society
Erin Schwarz, CEO, Vivacity Consulting

Faculty Management
Claire MacDonald, Associate Director, Clinical Education, Endocrine Society
Pam Beaton, BS, CCMEP, Manager, Educational Accreditation and Certification, American College of Chest Physicians

Outcomes Reporting
Dennis R. Harris, PhD, Manager, Educational Research and Outcomes, Endocrine Society
Erik Brady, PhD, CCMEP, Director of Analytics, Reporting and Outcomes, Clinical Care Options, LLC

Program Assessment
Tonya McFadden, Manager, CME Accreditation and Practice Improvement, Endocrine Society
Derek Dietze, MA, FACEHP, CCMEP, Improve CME, LLC

In addition, Ms. Schwarz will present an abstract during the Research Abstract Cluster #2 entitled, “A Comprehensive Process for Identifying and Managing Conflicts of Interest Reduced Perceived Bias at a Specialty Society Annual Meeting.” This presentation will take place on Friday, January 16th at 9:45 am.

Please contact Ms. Schwarz for more information about these presentations.

Quality Improvement (QI) and Me

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Stretch Assignment: 5 toe touches and a QI Initiative

We CME professionals often go about our day, working feverishly to ensure compliance for upcoming events and to finish the file for completed events. We all know that there is change brewing in healthcare, but if we have a chance to think about the big picture, it may not include the idea that quality improvement (QI) is in our wheelhouse. Well, some have suggested IF NOT US, THEN WHO?! 

Remember: the ACCME/IMQ requirements are not just rules we have to follow. They are designed to facilitate the planning of education which will enable/inspire physicians to do their jobs better.

During a recent webinar regarding the ACEhp’s Education Initiative, Jack Kues defined quality improvement as the process by which current practice is moved towards best practice. Isn’t that what we CME professionals do all day, every day?

In the same webinar, Robin King stated that we need to remember to help practitioners implement best practices in their practice setting if we are going to initiate any change. This is our stretch assignment, because although we think about barriers to implementation, how many of us actively plan to address these barriers? We still buy-in to Francis Bacon’s statement that knowledge is power. (He was an Elizabethan from the 17th century. We now know it takes more than knowledge to change behavior.) 

As we CME professionals take ownership of this QI issue, or at least, an appropriate portion of the ownership, we can be part of the change. I’m ready. Are you?