News

COFFEE WITH GRAHAM PODCAST:

Accessibility in Healthcare and Continuing Education

ACCME President and CEO Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, welcomes Dr. Kristina H. Petersen to the podcast to discuss accessibility in healthcare and healthcare continuing education. 

Dr. Kristina H. Petersen is Assistant Dean of Student Success & Access and Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. Formerly of New York Medical College, her scholarly work primarily focuses on inclusive instruction, course, and assessment accessibility, and creating a curriculum to teach clinicians about persons with disabilities. In 2022, she received an award for Excellence in Scholarly Work from the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science Education and the AAMC/Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teaching Award. She is currently an Alpha Omega Alpha Fellow in Leadership. Join us for this conversation by clicking here.

ANNUAL ACCREDITATION FEE REMINDER

ACCME Accredited providers can expect to receive invoices for the 2025 Annual Accreditation Fees via email by October 22, 2024. Payment is due to ACCME on or before January 31, 2025. We will send invoices to the individuals designated in PARS as Primary Contact and Billing Contact, so please update your contact information in PARS as needed before October 15.

The Annual Accreditation Fees are tiered and based on data accredited providers reported in PARS for 2020 – 2022.

As previously announced, the 2025 Annual accreditation fees are as follows:

This information applies only to ACCME-accredited providers, not to providers accredited by a state medical society. Intrastate providers should check with their accreditor for information regarding accreditation fees.

ABA HIGH PRIORITY TOPICS REPORT

The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) has released a new High Priority Topics Report for Q1-2 2024, which opens a new window to offer insight into planning CME for board-certified anesthesiologists to develop and maintain their knowledge and skill set. The report contents are informed by anesthesiologists’ continuing certification program performance rather than survey responses. Consider leveraging performance data from the ABA’s High Priority Topics Reports as you plan your next CME activity.

WFME TO LAUNCH RECOGNITION PROGRAM FOR CPD ACCREDITING AGENCIES

The World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) has developed a ground-breaking global recognition program for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accrediting agencies. Building on its long-standing commitment to uphold high standards in medical education, WFME aims to extend its reach to enhance CPD accreditation worldwide.

“ACCME is delighted to see the international standards we jointly created be utilized by WFME to create a global system of recognizing high quality CPD accreditation systems,” said ACCME President and CEO Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc. “This will help licensing authorities around the world decide which CPD credits to accept as legitimate, which will be invaluable in creating quality learning experiences for healthcare professionals.”

Read the full announcement here.

Data Reporting

GET A JUMP ON ANNUAL REPORTING

Did you know that PARS is always open? ACCME encourages you to log in to PARS and enter your activities when you plan them so they can be included in the search results that physicians generate each day when they visit CME Passport to find activities (like yours!) that meet their educational needs. We also encourage you to close your activity records in PARS when they end and then submit your learner credit data. Regularly closing your activities gives you a head start on completing your annual reporting requirements!

As a reminder, by March 31 of each year, you are required to complete the Program Summary and Annual Agreement and close all activities that ended in the prior year. The sooner you finish entering and closing your 2024 activities, the faster you’ll be able to complete your annual reporting requirements come January.

To get started:

• Enter any outstanding activities in PARS/JA-PARS that began in 2024. Enter activities manually or via batch upload.
• Review and close activities that ended in 2024 and are in “Ready to Close” status. Close activities manually or batch close a group of selected activities via Excel or XML.
• Enter learner credits for each activity as you close them.
• If you have enduring material activities that are in “Ready to Close” status, update the total cumulative learner counts as of the activity end date. Enduring materials should remain open until the end date, which may be up to three years from the start date. If an enduring material activity will remain open into 2025, we recommend updating the total learner counts periodically to ensure they will be current as of December 31, 2024. Update your cumulative learner counts manually or via batch upload. 

AMERICAN BOARD OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY (ABOS):
Special Activity Requirements

Just a reminder that activities entered into PARS that are tagged for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS) must meet the following criteria:

• Must be related explicitly to orthopaedics or orthopaedic subspecialties.  
• Must be related to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and injuries of the musculoskeletal system
• Activity content that covers a general topic related to the practice of medicine may be eligible if the content is specific to orthopaedics and/or the musculoskeletal system

It’s important to follow these guidelines to ensure that the ABOS credits are accepted. Please be sure to review the Maintenance of Certification Program Guide and related MOC information on the ACCME website. Have questions? We’re here to help. Contact info@accme.org.

Education & Resources

REGISTER FOR LEARN TO THRIVE PLUS

Join us on October 29 for Learn to Thrive PLUS, ACCME’s new virtual gathering for the accredited CE community. This one-day event over an inclusive platform will offer peer engagement, access to exclusive content, collaboration for innovative solutions, and discussion of best practices. Discover some of the most beneficial strategies and resources from Learn to Thrive 2023, get updates from our Working Groups, and explore how ACCME can help providers share learner credit data.

Learn to Thrive PLUS will take place virtually on October 29 from 10 am – 4 pm CT. Registration is open until 5:00 pm CT on Friday, October 25, 2024. If you’re an accredited provider in the ACCME system or a recognized & colleague accreditor, registration is only $75 and $150 per person for non-accredited organizations.

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL FOR LEARN TO THRIVE 2025

We are pleased to invite you to participate in our Call for Proposals for Learn to Thrive 2025, ACCME’s annual meeting, on April 23-25, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. We encourage our continuing education community to help shape the content of the meeting by submitting proposals for:
• Inspire and Teach! Sessions
• CE Effectiveness & Best Practices: Engaging in CE Research
• Better Together: Working Group (Accepted later this Fall)

You are welcome to submit multiple proposals for any option or across multiple options.

We are currently accepting proposals through October 2, 2024.

 

 

 

START PLANNING YOUR AWARENESS DAY CELEBRATIONS NOW

It’s not too early to plan for the first annual Healthcare Continuing Education Professionals Day beginning Friday, January 24, 2025. We encourage you and your organization to plan activities and watch this page for ideas and resources. Mark your calendar and join us in celebrating our community of CE planners, speakers, reviewers, faculty, facilitators, and much more.

“It’s the educators within our community that do the work to support healthcare professionals in practicing at their best,” said Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO, ACCME. “CE professionals are outstanding agents of change who engage and inspire learners to innovate and improve our healthcare system; they deserve to be celebrated and appreciated for their critical role.”

You can also learn more here.