On January 10, 2020, the CME Coalition's Andrew Rosenberg and Rockpoint's Tom Sullivan presented to the annual conference of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions (ACEhp) (see here for the slides). The presentation provided an overview of key topics of interest to stakeholders in the CME community, including the political dynamics in Washington, CME for MIPS, Open Payments, activity on Capitol Hill relating to CME, and various state action around proposed "gift bans." 

The CME Coalition has submitted comments to Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) in response to their solicitation for comments on ‘Cures 2.0’ — an important next step in their efforts to advance medical research and foster innovation.  As the letter points out, policymakers have increasingly recognized that there is an important role for enhanced provider education to address discrete policy challenges.

​At the 17th Annual Independent Medical Education and Grants Summit, CME Coalition Senior Advisor Andy Rosenberg and Rockpointe’s Tom Sullivan gave a “Washington Update” regarding the latest political implications for the CME enterprise. 

On September 23, 2019, the CME Coalition submitted a comment letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the agency’s proposed revisions to payment policies under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), encouraging the agency to consider the role of CME for quality improvement in future rulemakings on the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Value Pathways (MVP). The letter complimented CMS’ acknowledgement of continuing medical education as a part of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for opioid analgesics, noting that the rule will bolster participation in programs to inform providers about the risks associated with opioids. The CME Coalition also applauded the clarity CMS seeks to achieve by consolidating the “accredited/certified” and “unaccredited/non-certified” CME program categories in Open Payments to match the statutory language of “medical education programs.”  “CME is crucial for quality improvement and we appreciate CMS making physicians’ lifelong learning a priority,” wrote CME Coalition Senior Advisor Andrew Rosenberg.