As of June 1, the International Medical Meeting Professionals Association, which developed and implemented the Healthcare Meetings Compliance Certificate program, is no more. But its certificate program will go on—now under the rubric of Meeting Professionals International, which has acquired the program and hired its former administrator, Pat Schaumann, as director of professional development, healthcare sector. Schaumann, who will continue to promote the HMCC and deliver related training in her new role, also will be MPI’s healthcare subject matter expert.
Background on IMMPA: New Association, New Certification for Medical Meeting Planners
IMMPA members will be folded into MPI’s membership for free until the end of the year, and the IMMPA board of directors will become an MPI advisory council that will guide MPI’s new educational focus on the healthcare meeting management segment. According to Schaumann, MPI plans to deliver up to 20 HMCC sessions annually, and intends to include new healthcare education sessions at its World Education Congress, scheduled for August 2-5 in Minneapolis. Currently the HMCC is a three-hour workshop.
The HMCC certificate program, which was launched in 2013 in conjunction with Saint Louis University, should not be confused with the Convention Industry Council’s Certified Meeting Professional-Healthcare certification, a subspecialty of the CMP program that just graduated its first crop of CMP-HC holders earlier this year. In order to apply, and sit for, the CMP-HC designation, one must already have a CMP.
