CME Privacy Policy Template

In order to ensure that CME provider entities - both within and outside of the CME Coalition - have “best practices” in place with regard to their treatment of collected learner data, the CME Coalition has provided a suggested privacy policy template for use by its members and the public at-large.

Responsible Logo Use Guidelines

Recently, the ACCME's Board of Directors decided to adopt changes to the Standards for Commercial Support to prohibit the use of commercial interest logos in the acknowledgment of commercial support. Although the CME Coalition took issue with the Board’s decision, we are working hard to ensure that our members, and other stakeholders in the community, meet the new requirements.

While we respect and recognize the ACCME’s decision to ban logos, we remain committed to ensuring that commercial support for CME be made visible to learners. To that end, we have proposed a straight-forward design recommended for voluntary use by CME providers that would provide adequate transparency while avoiding the use of corporate logos.

The press release and our design template are available now.

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What is CME?

Continuing medical education (CME) refers to a range of educational programs provided by trained professionals that helps health care providers to maintain their competence and to learn about new technologies, procedures and developing areas of their field. Content for these programs is developed, reviewed, and delivered by faculty who are experts in their individual clinical areas. Similar to the process used in academic journals, any potentially conflicting financial relationships for faculty members must be disclosed and addressed appropriately. The CME Coalition is a collection of health care providers, companies, institutions and academics committed to the pursuit of sensible policies designed to promote responsible CME.

To Join the CME Coalition, Click Here!

Resources

CMS Proposal to Eliminate Section §403.904(g) of the Final Rule on the Physician Payments Sunshine Act

On July 3, presumably in response to concerns that were put forward by the CME Coalition and others about the need to expand the list of accrediting bodies that counted towards determining CME Sunshine exemption, CMS proposed eliminating the section of the current Final Rule that requires events to be accredited by one of five enumerated accredited bodies in order to be “sunshine exempt” (the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education ("ACCME"), the American Academy of Family Physicians ("AAFP"), the American Dental Association's Continuing Education Recognition Program ("ADA CERP"), the American Medical Association ("AMA"), or the American Osteopathic Association ("AOA")).

Stakeholder Conference Call: Sunshine Act Exemption for CME

Please join the CME Coalition for a FREE CONFERENCE CALL on Wednesday, July 16 @ 2:00 pm ET to discuss the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) recent proposal regarding the Physician Payment Sunshine Act. On July 3rd, CMS issued a proposal that would revise an earlier Final Rule on the Sunshine Act – one that created a narrow, but vitally important exemption for the reporting of payments related to certain accredited CME programs.

Join us on this informational conference call to discuss:

How CMS’ proposal would impact the reporting exemption for speakers at continuing education events;
The impact of the proposal on CMS’ special rules regarding the reporting of food and beverage;
Analysis regarding the treatment of payments or transfers of value to attending physicians at continuing education programs; and

Commercial Support Disclosure Design Template

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - Today, the CME Coalition released a proposed design template for the disclosure of commercial support on CME materials. This design template, which is intended as a voluntary guide for use by CME provider organizations, is intended to abide the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s (ACCME) ban on the use of corporate logos, while still providing commercial supporter transparency.

CME Coalition Corporate Visibility Design.pdf

CME Coalition Comments on Sunshine Act Dispute Resolution Process

Thursday, June 5, 2014 - The CME Coalition has submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with respect to the Dispute Resolution process for Open Payments, the program to implement the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. While endorsing the manifest goals of the Sunshine Act, the Coalition recommends that CMS delay publication of the payments information to allow physicians ample opportunity to correct the record on their reported payments.

CME Sunshine Comments.pdf

CME Privacy Policy Template

Thursday, June 5, 2014 - In order to ensure that CME provider entities - both within and outside of the CME Coalition - have “best practices” in place with regard to their treatment of collected learner data, the CME Coalition has provided a suggested privacy policy template for use by its members and the public at-large.

In developing this template policy, the CME Coalition mustered a “Privacy Policy Working Group” from within its ranks and retained the prominent Washington, DC law firm of Arnold & Porter to design a “best practices” template for CME provider companies and organizations to adopt. While many organizations already have excellent privacy policies in place, the CME Coalition is making this template policy available to the public in order to increase widespread adherence to sound privacy policy and to increase physician confidence in the integrity of CME and its providers.

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The CME Coalition Submits Comments Regarding ACCME Use Of Corporate Logos

Friday, January 31, 2014 - Attached below is a PDF of the CME Coalition's written comments to the ACCME in response to the Call for Comment related to the use of corporate logos.

CME letter to ACCME.pdf