FAQs

Regularly scheduled series (RSS) is a live activity planned as a series with multiple, ongoing sessions, e.g., offered weekly, monthly, or quarterly. A RSS is primarily planned by and presented to the accredited organization's professional staff and generally targets the same audience over the whole series. Examples include grand rounds, tumor boards, and morbidity and mortality conferences. 

Live activities where the same content is offered multiple times for different audiences should be reported as separate live courses and not RSS. 

When reporting RSS activities in PARS, each series should be reported as one activity. Each series should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available. In addition, the following guidelines should be used: 

1. The number of credits listed for the activity should be for the entire series, not the credit amount per session. 
2. Each physician or other learner is counted as a learner for every session they attend in the series. 

For example: Internal Medicine Grand Rounds is planned as a 12-month activity from July 1 to June 30 each year. This activity meets for one hour each week. The start date should be entered as 07/01/XXXX and the end date should be entered as 06/30/XXXX. In PARS, the series should be entered as one activity with 52 credits. If 20 physicians participated in each session, total physician learners would be 1,040 (20 learners/session x 52 sessions) for that single activity. 

A journal CME/CE activity is an activity that is planned and presented by an accredited provider and in which the learner reads one or more articles (or adapted formats for special needs) from a peer-reviewed professional journal. 

When reporting journal-based activities in PARS, the accredited provider may choose to report journal-based CME activities as a single activity per journal or as individual articles. For credits available, specify the amount of time required to complete the activity. The number of learners should equal the total number of individuals who completed the activity. 

For example, a provider produces a journal that contains an article that is associated with an activity. Twenty learners read the article, reflect on the content, and complete questions related to the content of the article. The learners spend 1 hour on this activity. In PARS, the provider would report this as a journal-based activity with 20 learners, and 1 credit. 

Each journal CME/CE activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available.

Manuscript review is an activity in which a learner participates in the critical review of an assigned journal manuscript during the pre-publication review process of a journal. 

When you report a manuscript review activity in PARS, report each journal for which the manuscript is reviewed as an individual activity regardless of the number of manuscripts and the number of reviewers. For available credits, specify the amount of time you believe a learner would take to complete the manuscript review activity. The number of learners should reflect the distinct number of learners engaged in reviewing manuscripts.  

For example, a provider published one journal. During the year, 25 learners reviewed manuscripts for this journal. Each learner spent 2 hours on their review. In PARS, the provider would report this as 1 manuscript review activity, with 25 Learners and 2 credits. 

Each manuscript review activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available.

Test-item writing is an activity wherein physicians learn through their contribution to the development (and review) of examinations, or certain peer-reviewed self-assessment activities, by researching, drafting, and defending potential test-items. 

For example, a provider planned an activity in which 5 physicians wrote test-items for an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member board certification examination question pool. Each physician completed the test-item writing activity in approximately 10 hours. In PARS, the provider would report this as a test-item writing activity with 5 Physician Learners and 10 credits.

Each test-item writing activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available.

A performance/quality improvement activity is structured as a three-stage process by which a physician or group of physicians learn about specific performance measures, assess their practice using the selected performance measures, implement interventions to improve performance related to these measures over a useful interval of time, and then reassess their practice using the same performance measures. 

For credits, specify the amount of time you believe a learner would take to complete the performance improvement activity. The number of learners should reflect the distinct number of learners engaged in the performance improvement activity.

Each performance/quality improvement activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available. 

The other/blended learning activity format is used for hybrid, new, or unique approaches that do not fall into one of the established activity types. Providers must identify these activities as other/blended learning in the AMA credit designation statement, in the credit designation statement, and in documentation given to learners (certificates, transcripts, etc.). The inclusion of this activity format allows educators to deploy new technologies such as simulation, adaptive e-learning, virtual reality, gamification, and social media into their medical education approaches.

Each other/blended learning activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available. 

Learning from teaching activities are personal learning projects designed and implemented by the learner with facilitation from the accredited provider. This type of activity recognizes the learning that occurs as physicians prepare to teach. Learning from teaching represents a range of activities in which an accredited provider can facilitate practice-based learning and improvement – where the ‘practice’ could be the person’s professional “teaching practice” or “clinical practice” or “research practice.” 

Examples of learning from teaching activities: 

1. To prepare for teaching a skills workshop at a surgical specialty society meeting, physician faculty find that they need to learn how to operate a new laparoscopic device that will be used during the workshop. The specialty society, as an accredited provider, facilitates their training on the new device as a learning from teaching activity for the faculty prior to their teaching engagement. 

2. An accredited provider makes available a learning from teaching activity for new faculty in the form of "individualized learning projects." In the activity, new faculty assess what knowledge and skills they need to teach more effectively, and then the provider makes available training and feedback to improve the new faculty members’ teaching skills. This includes one-to-one mentorship and training with educational experts. 

When you report learning from teaching in PARS, aggregate your data for learning from teaching for all learners into one activity. The number of learners should equal the number of individuals who participated in this activity. The amount of credit may be reported as the maximum amount of credit a learner could earn for a learning from teaching activity. 

For example, a provider created a learning from teaching activity for 10 learners. The maximum number of credits a learner could earn over the 12-month period was 10 credits. In PARS, the provider would report this as a learning from teaching activity with 10 learners and 10 credits. 

Each learning from teaching activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period.If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available.

An internet searching and learning activity is an activity in which a physician engages in self-directed, online learning on topics relevant to their clinical practice from a database whose content has been vetted by an accredited CME provider. This type of activity is based on a learner identifying a problem in practice and then accessing content in search of an answer from sources on the Internet that are facilitated by a provider. For the purpose of data collection, the ACCME includes AMA-defined point of care CME as a form of internet searching and learning. 

When you report internet searching and learning in PARS, aggregate and report all your data for internet searching and learning for all learners into one activity. You should not enter each individual article that could be accessed by a learner participating in your activity as a separate activity in PARS. The number of learners should equal the distinct number of learners who participated in the internet searching and learning activity. 

For example, a provider creates an internet searching learning activity in which 50 learners participate. Each learner spent approximately 30 minutes participating in this activity. In PARS, the provider would report this as an internet searching and learning activity, with 50 learners and 0.5 credits.

Each internet searching and learning activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity is available for longer than 12 months, it should be reported as a separate activity each year in which it is available. 

Enduring materials that are offered over the course of multiple calendar years should be reported only once in PARS with a start and end date spanning up to 3 years. Learner counts for enduring activities should be updated in PARS through 12/31 by the 3/31 annual reporting deadline for each year they are active.

For example, if a provider offers an enduring material that was launched on July 1, 2023, and remains available through December 2024 they should: 

1. Report one activity in PARS with a start date of 07/01/2023 and an end date of 12/31/2024.
2. Report the number of learners through 12/31/2023 as a part of annual reporting for 2023 and then update those learner counts to indicate the cumulative number of learners through 12/31/2024 as a part of annual reporting for 2024.
3. If the activity received monetary commercial support, report the amount of support received in the year in which it was received.

Other activity formats that span more than one calendar year should be entered once for each 12-month period and closed at the end of that period. If the activity will continue beyond a 12-month period, it should be entered again as a separate activity in PARS. For each 12-month period that the activity was provided, report the number of learners (physicians and/or other learners) who participated, as well as the income related to the activity.

The Internal ID is a unique code or identifier that your organization creates. It is used in combination with the data in the Activity Type and Activity Date fields to uniquely identify your activity records. Providers should not use their assigned seven-digit provider ID number as an Internal ID, since this number would be the same for all activities you provide.  

The Internal ID field is optional, except in the following cases: 

1. When your organization offers multiple activities in the same format on the same date 

2. When entering activities via batch upload or web services 

3. When the activity offers MOC 

You are required to complete the following fields regarding commercial support at the individual activity level.

1. Commercial Support Received? Indicate whether commercial support was received for this activity by clicking “Yes” or “No”. You should check “Yes” for this question if support was received regardless of whether it was paid directly to your organization, as the Accredited Provider, or to a joint provider
2. Support Source: Complete this field for each commercial supporter for your activity. Select a name from the drop-down box, or, if the commercial supporter for your activity does not appear in the drop-down, type the supporter’s name into the text field.
3. Monetary Support Received: Use this field to indicate the amount of monetary support received from each commercial supporter.
4. In-kind Support Received: Use this field to indicate the nature of any in-kind support received from each commercial supporter. 

There are four activity statuses: Draft, Active, Ready to Close, and Closed. Below is a description of the data fields required for each activity status:

DRAFT  

• Title  

• Format  

• Start date  

• End date 

ACTIVE  

• Delivery method (if applies)  

• Location (if applies)  

• City, State, Country (if in person)  

• AMA PRA Category 1™ amount  

• CME Finder Yes/No selection  

• If CME Finder = Yes  

  • Fee   

  • Registration  

  • Activity URL  

• Activity Description  

• Providership (Direct/Joint)  

• End date not in the past  

READY TO CLOSE  

• Same fields as Active  

• End date in the past

CLOSED  

• Everything required for Ready to Close  

• If Joint Providership, at least 1 joint provider name  

• At least 1 Outcome Measure  

• Commercial Support Yes/No  

• If Commercial Support = Yes, at least 1 support source, and for each source:  

  • Monetary or In-Kind selection 

  • If Monetary, support amount  

• Total Physician Learner count (can enter a “0” if no learners in this category)  

• Total Other Learner count (can enter a “0” if no learners in this category)  

• If activity was registered for MOC/CC, at least one board selected, attestation complete, and for each board:  

  • At least one practice area  

  • At least one credit type  

  • MOC credit amount  

  • Content area (if applicable)  

  • Internal ID (if applicable)  

  • Fee  

  • Registration  

  • Activity URL  

  • MOC credit claim date

You can copy an activity from the activity summary view, by hovering your mouse over the activity and then selecting the Copy option. You can also copy an activity from the activity detail view by clicking the Copy option on the right side of the page. This guide provides details about how to copy an activity, including which fields will get copied.

If you need to delete an activity from PARS, you may do so by going to your Activity Summary screen. From there you can check the box next to each activity you want to delete and then choose the Delete Activities option at the bottom of the page. You can also delete activities individually by hovering over the activity card and selecting the Delete option. You will receive a pop-up message asking you to confirm whether you want to delete the selected activities. You can also delete activities using the batch and web service methods. 

Note that you cannot delete activities with a status of Closed, or for which you have entered individual learner completion data.

You can click on the name of any of these activity formats for a definition and additional information on how to report learners:  

• Live Course
• Regularly Scheduled Series
• Enduring Material
• Journal CME/CE
• Manuscript Review
• Test-Item Writing
• Committee Learning
• Performance Quality Improvement
• Internet Searching and Learning
• Learning from Teaching
• Other/Blended Learning

There are four activity statuses: draft, active, ready to close, and closed. This guide explains how activities flow in PARS and what information is required for each status. 

A directly provided activity is one that is planned, implemented and evaluated by the accredited provider. Include co-provided activities (provided by two accredited providers) in this category if you are the accredited provider awarding the credit. In contrast, a jointly provided activity is one that is planned, implemented and evaluated by the accredited provider and a non-accredited entity.

If your organization is the accredited provider for a jointly provided activity, you are required to report the same financial data that you do for directly provided activities, even if the joint provider was the recipient of the funds. 

Related link: ACCME's Policy on Joint Providership

Yes, the accredited provider must report the full amount of commercial support received, even if the commercial support is distributed to other non-accredited joint providers. We require this because the funds are being used to support accredited education. For more information on jointly provided activities, please go to our Joint Providership webpage. 

In-kind support is reported for each individual activity. When reporting your activity in PARS, report any in-kind (non-monetary) commercial support received for an activity by indicating "in-kind" support and listing the support source. 

No. An activity that was planned but did not end up occurring does not need to be reported in PARS. 

CME Passport (formerly CME Finder) is a free, CME activity search engine and centralized web application where physicians can search for CME activities that meet their educational needs as well as create a personalized account to view, track, and generate transcripts of their reported CME and MOC/CC credit. The value of CME Passport in serving our stakeholders depends on you: the more activity and learner credit data that you enter in PARS, the more useful CME Passport will be for physicians.

We encourage you to enter your activities prospectively in PARS, elect to display them in CME Passport, and enter your learner credit data in PARS. The benefits of this process include: 

• Increase visibility of your CME activities; reach a wider audience of learners. 
• Reinforce the value of your activities to learners and other stakeholders. 
• Decrease physicians' reporting burden, giving them more time to focus on their patients, rather than paperwork. 
• Reduce your work responding to queries and certificate requests from physicians. PARS  can become your system of record for physician credit data, replacing the need to issue paper or e-certificates following completion of activities. 
• Support regulatory authorities by providing easier access to verified CME and Maintenance of Certification/Continuous Certification (MOC/CC) credit data. Learner credit data entered in PARS will be reported to the participating state medical licensing boards and certifying boards in collaboration with the ACCME, eliminating the need for physicians to track and submit their credits to these boards manually.

Learn more about CME Passport here.

Committee learning is a live activity that involves a learner’s participation in a committee process addressing a subject which, if taught/learned in another format, would be considered within the definition of continuing education. 

The committee is the activity, regardless of how many times the committee meets. The credits would be the total learning time (e.g., however long they are in the committee). The number of learners should reflect the number of participants in the committee. 

Each committee learning activity should be reported for a maximum of a 12-month period. If this activity lasts longer than 12 months, it should be reported as separate activities.