An activity is considered to be related to the business lines of an ineligible company when the content provides any opportunity for the individual to insert commercial bias toward the products of the company. It is best to err on the side of caution in determining relevance since the protection of learners is more important than the inclusion of specific faculty.
Generally, it is the content that drives the decision as to the participation of owners/employees, not their profession or area of specialization. For example, a pulmonary specialist can be an owner or employee of a startup that is developing a new treatment for asthma and control content for an activity focused on lung cancer. In some cases, CME providers may seek the input of medical professionals to make this determination. Some typical separations might be useful to keep in mind to identify appropriate determinations of relatedness:
- Different anatomy
- Different (unrelated) disease state
- In-patient vs. ambulatory care
- Medical treatment vs. surgical treatment
Click here for a few scenarios that address whether one of the exceptions for the use of an owner or employee of an ineligible company would apply, although they do not represent the complete range of possibilities.
