Plan a CME Activity

As an accredited CME sponsor, the Bridgeport Hospital Office of Medical Education is responsible for assuring physicians that CME activities meet standards of education that will help physicians develop skills and increase competence needed to improve the quality of medical care offered to patients in their communities. The Office of Medical Education works closely with activity directors to plan, implement and evaluate CME activities.

  1. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education develops standards for continuing medical education. The Essential Elements and Standards of Commercial support are the practices that a provider must implement in order to maintain accreditation. All programs accredited by Bridgeport Hospital must meet these standards.
  • All CME activities must:
    • Be designed to change one or more of the following:
      • Competence
      • Performance
      • Patient Outcomes
    • Address professional practice gaps of physicians
    • Use needs assessment data in the planning process
    • Include content that:
      • Matches learners’ scope of practice
      • Is developed in the context of desirable physician attributes
      • Is delivered in appropriate educational formats, objectives and desired results of the activity
    • Be in compliance with the ACCME’s policies for disclosure and commercial support
    • Evaluate the effectiveness of the activity in meeting the stated objectives

The Bridgeport Hospital Department of Medical Education follows a consistent planning process for all CME actives. Our staff will consult with you to ensure your educational activity meets all ACCME requirements. We provide direct support in identifying educational needs, development and design of educational materials, wording of learning objectives, and the design of comprehensive evaluation instruments. All planning documents and processes were developed in accordance with ACCME requirements.

In accordance with ACCME Policy, industry is not allowed to participate in the identification of need; determination of educational objectives; selection of presentation of content; selection of those in position of control over content; selection of educational methods; valuation of the activity. See “Commercial Support and Exhibits” to learn more.

As an accredited provider, Bridgeport Hospital is accountable to the public for presenting clinical content that supports safe, effective patient care.  Accredited providers and activity organizers are responsible for validating the clinical content of CME activities they provide.  

  1. All the recommendations involving clinical medicine in a CME activity must be based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their indications or contraindications in the care of patients.
  2. All scientific research referred to, reported, or used in CME in support or justification of a patient care recommendation must conform to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis.
  3. Bridgeport Hospital will not accredit activities that promote recommendations, treatment, or manners of practicing medicine that are not within the definition of CME, known to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits, or are known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients.

Learn more about ACCME Content Validity (Criterion 10)

  1. Bridgeport hospital develops CME activities independent of commercial interests. A commercial interest is any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients. Commercial interests cannot take the role of a joint or non-accredited sponsor (Standard 1.2) and in accordance with Standard 1.1 are not allowed to be involved in any of the following activities:
    1. Identification of practice gaps and needs that become the foundation of an activity
    2. Preparation or input into learning objectives
    3. Selection of presentation content
    4. Recommendation of persons to serve as faculty for an activity or any other persons that will be in a position to control the content of an activity
    5. Influence over selection of educational design of an activity
    6. Selection of vendor
    7. Selection of methods for the evaluation of an activity
    8. Request for “technical review” of content of an activity

  2. Exhibitors are permitted at Bridgeport Hospital accredited activities; however strict policies must be adhered to in order to maintain compliance with ACCME & CSMS regulations.
    1. Exhibitors must abide by the ACCME Standards of Commercial Support and the YNHHS Interactions with Vendors Policy found in Elucid. 
    2. Exhibitors may not share the same space as the accredited activity.
    3. All promotion or discussion of products or services must be done in the designated exhibit space.
    4. A company may not pay directly for any part of a course (food, audiovisual expense, room rental, etc). If a commercial supporter would like to give funds to support an event, they must do so in the form of an unrestricted educational grant and retain no control over the content of the program.

  3. Vendor Interaction
    1. Vendors may seek to cultivate relationships with healthcare providers by offering gifts, entertainment and other items and/or services of value, sometimes in an attempt to induce business. For these purposes, a gift is defined as a tangible or intangible item of value without compensation, included by not limited to discounts, free or below-market value good or services, perishable and consumable good, free promotional items and invitation/tickets to events or other benefits.
    2. Vendors may not provide or fund, and workforce may not accept, meals or other types of food or drink.
    3. Invitation to host industry sponsored social events may not be accepted by any group planning a Bridgeport Hospital accredited activity.

 

Learn more about Commercial Exhibits and Advertisement (ACCME Criterion 9)

Learn more about Standards of Commercial Support

  1. Use EEDS to create the activity file.
    1. All components of a live program apply to those offered through Zoom
  2. Marketing your program.
    1. In accordance with ACCME requirements, the following must be communicated to attendees before the event
      1. Title of presentation
      2. Name of speaker
      3. Objectives
      4. Speaker and planner disclosures
      5. Accreditation and Designation Statement
  3. The EEDS code may not be distributed via mass email prior to the program.  The code may only be shared with the audience via a slide created by the speaker or the sponsoring department displayed at the beginning of the conference.

According to the ACCME, as with any live activity, planners of Zoom Conferences must demonstrate compliance with all applicable ACCME accreditation requirements, including faculty disclosure and acknowledgement of any commercial support (SCS 6).

When a conference is recorded to be played later, it becomes an enduring material. According to the ACCME, an enduring material is a printed, recorded, or computer-presented activity that endures over a specified time and does not have a specific time or location designated for participation; rather, the participant determines whether and when to complete the activity. If educational material from a live activity is turned into an enduring material, the enduring material is considered a separate activity requiring a new application.

Departments that produce enduring materials must review each enduring material at least once every three years or more frequently if indicated by new scientific developments. While providers can review and re-release an enduring material every three years (or more frequently), the enduring material cannot be offered as an accredited activity for more than three years without some review on the part of the provider to ensure that the content is still up-to-date and accurate. That review date must be included on the enduring material, along with the original release date and a termination date.
 
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