What’s the difference between certified CME and promotional activities? How do CME programs manage conflicts of interest?
The National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration’s Public Affairs Committee has introduced a nationwide “Get the Facts” campaign to provide the answers to those questions and others, in order to dispel misperceptions about CME held by lawmakers and policymakers, journalists, and the public. The campaign launched with a pair of one-page fact sheets addressing these issues, which were disseminated at the National Task Force annual meeting held in October in Baltimore.
“Others are defining what our future looks like,” said Maureen Doyle-Scharff, MBA, senior director, medical education, Pfizer, New York, and chairwoman of the public relations committee. “We need to set the record straight and start owning the CME enterprise.”
Co-presenter Linda Raichle, PhD, president, Spectrum Medical Education, Blue Bell, Pa., urged attendees to “get on the bandwagon and be part of the band.” The presenters encouraged the audience to distribute the fact sheets to physicians, CME faculty and planners, friends, colleagues, co-workers, association members, media, and local lawmakers; incorporate them into employee training manuals; and post the fact sheets on their organizations’ Web sites.
The public affairs committee intends to make presentations at other conferences as well as send out press releases. Additional fact sheets will follow on industry support of CME, the value of collaboration, and other topics.
For more information, e-mail NTF.factsheets@ama-assn.org or get the fact sheets at the AMA web site.