The American Medical Association and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education have come up with a plan to simplify and align their requirements for accredited CME that offers AMA PRA Category 1 Credit. And they want to know what you think of it.
The organizations opened a call for comments April 25 on the proposal, which is designed to encourage innovation and flexibility in accredited CME while still maintaining its standards for quality education that is free from commercial influence. Based on feedback from the CME community and a review of the AMA PRA Category 1 Credit requirements, the proposal would enable accredited CME providers to introduce and blend new instructional practices and formats, as long as they stay within the seven core requirements. These requirements aren’t new—they align with current AMA/ACCME requirements in terms of addressing educational needs based on practice gaps, ensuring activities provide appropriate depth and scope of learning for their intended physician learners (including learner assessment), and complying with the ACCME’s Standards for Commercial Support. Providers can award credit on an hour-per-credit basis using their best reasonable estimate of how long it would take to complete the activity. (View the full proposal here).
“This proposal reflects the values of our CME providers and supports their aspirations to engage in education that makes a meaningful difference in clinician practice and patient care,” said Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO, ACCME. “We want to do everything we can to encourage innovation and experimentation in CME, so that educators are free to respond nimbly to their learners’ changing needs while staying true to core principles for educational excellence and independence. We thank accredited CME providers for their participation in this process and look forward to their feedback on our proposal and to our continued work together to drive quality in postgraduate medical education and improve care for the patients and communities we all serve.”
The AMA and ACCME also have produced a shared glossary of terms and definitions as part of the alignment process, and in response to requests from CME providers. The AMA is also seeking feedback on the glossary during the comment period.
The call for comments will remain open until May 25, 2017. The AMA and the ACCME also are surveying their respective constituents to gain more input on the proposal.
