Mike Saxton

Region: Mid-Atlantic

Focus: Educational quality and leadership

Background: 25-plus years as a CME professional in the pharmaceutical industry, with companies including Wyeth and Pharmacia, before joining Pfizer in 2006

On industry funding of needs assessments: “Commercial supporters should fund needs assessments and put all the results in the public domain. We should not fund three or four and cherry-pick the one we happen to like.”

Sarah Krüg

Region: Northeast, international

Therapeutic area: Oncology

Background: Clinical research. Joined Pfizer in 2001; previously worked for Memorial Sloan Kettering

On global CME: “I don't believe that it's crucial that CME/CE credits be reciprocal between countries, as each country has very different standards. Global relicensure of one's professional degree should be mandatory and contingent upon demonstration of continuing professional development.”

Robert E. Kristofco

Region: Southeast

Therapeutic areas: Neuroscience, chronic pain

Background: 19 years as associate professor in the division of CME, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Did a short stint as president, Meniscus Education Institute, before joining Pfizer in 2007

On moving from academia to industry: “My view of the commercial supporter was somewhat naïve. There are a great many complexities to the grant-making process. I'm clearer now about the adage about walking a mile in someone's shoes.”

Maureen Doyle-Scharff

Region: Midwest

Therapeutic area: Infectious disease

Background: 18-year CME veteran, serving companies including the Upjohn Co., Pharmacia, Johnson & Johnson, and Abbott Laboratories, before joining Pfizer in 2007

On creating balanced funding standards: “The Alliance for CME needs to tackle balanced funding. It's the only organization that represents every stakeholder. The collective CME community can have a conversation about [funding] standards, and commercial interests should sit at the table.”

Jacqueline Mayhew

Region: Southwest

Therapeutic areas: Cardiovascular, metabolic, urology, and respiratory

Background: Prior to joining Pfizer in 2006, served as director of continuing professional education for the American Heart Association

On why she switched from the provider side to industry: “By being in a position to award grants to CME providers who adopt the ACCME's new criteria, I can make the most difference in improving CME and patient care.”

MECCs Need Not Apply

In a move certain to spark great controversy in the CME community, Pfizer announced on July 2 that it will no longer award grants to medical education companies.

“We are eliminating support for commercial CME providers, whether they are for-profit or nonprofit, and regardless of whether they have firewalls,” says Mike Saxton, Med, senior director, team leader, Medical Education Group, Pfizer, New York. “Our intention is to send a signal that funds must be used exclusively for independent education.”

Up until this announcement, Pfizer had awarded 17 percent of its CME funding to medical education and communication companies in 2008. “That figure will now drop to zero,” says Saxton.

He clarifies that this move is not a blanket condemnation of medical education and communication companies. “Some of the best providers out there are MECCs — and some of the worst are MECCs — so it is unfortunate that this action will not allow us to give direct support to quality MECCs,” he says. Pfizer will continue to fund CME initiatives that involve MECCs, he says, as long as they're not the primary sponsor.

“MECCs' role is critical. Patients would clearly lose if MECCs were not part of the equation. They're innovative, they're efficient, and they have competencies that other provider groups often lack. The best model for MECCs is to collaborate with hospitals, associations, and academic medical centers.”

Follow the Compensation

Pfizer is making this move, Saxton says, in part, because of the widespread perception among the healthcare community and the public that MECCs blur the line between education and promotion.

In addition, Saxton says Pfizer is extremely concerned about some MECCs' business practices, whether they are for-profit or nonprofit, particularly their use of business development personnel who are compensated financially based on the amount of funding they bring in. This can motivate people to cross ethical lines in order to please grantors, Saxton says. The CME team has tried to screen for MECCs that use such a business development model, but without success.

“We've made what I consider a Herculean effort to ask questions on our new application to get at these issues and it simply has not worked,” says Saxton. “We've been disappointed and frustrated by our inability to get verifiable data. We do not have a way to be certain that the data is accurate; in fact, we know in some cases it's not accurate.