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About Continuing Medical Education (CME)
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine (School) continuing medical education (CME) program may sponsor activities three different ways:
- Directly Sponsored: Activities are planned and implemented by the School.
- Jointly Sponsored: Activities are planned and implemented in partnership with a non-accredited provider. Commercial interests cannot be a joint sponsor. Must have a signed Joint Sponsorship Agreement on file. Learn more about Providerships (Sponsorships).
- Co-Sponsored: Activities have two or more accredited providers working in collaboration, one provider must take responsibility for the compliance of that activity.
Activity Formats
Activity formats may vary from live courses to various enduring materials. Formats may require additional documentation.
- Live Activities (Courses or Regularly Scheduled Series): CME activities that physicians must attend (in person or virtually) in order to claim credit can be offered in a variety of formats that range from national conferences and live Internet teleconferences to local workshops, seminars, grand rounds or departmental scientific meetings.
- Enduring Material: A non-live CME activity that "endures" over time. It is most typically a videotape, monograph, or CD Rom or Internet. The learning experience by the physician can take place at any time in any place. Enduring materials must be reviewed at least once every three (3) years or more frequently if indicated by new scientific developments. Accredited providers may not enlist the assistance of commercial interests to provide or distribute enduring materials to learners. Please see the program's guidelines for requirement details.
- Journal Based Activities: Enduring Material that includes the reading of an article (or adapted formats for special needs), a provider stipulated/learner directed phase (that may include reflection, discussion, or debate about the material contained in the article(s)) and a requirement for the completion by the learner of a pre-determined set of questions or tasks relating to the content of the material as part of the learning process. The CME content (e.g., articles, lectures, handouts, and slide copies), content-specific post-tests, and education evaluation are all to be elements of a journal-based CME activity. Please see the program's guidelines for requirement details.
- Internet CME: Live or enduring material activities that are provided via the Internet are considered to be Internet CME. Internet CME must comply with all ACCME Essential Areas and Elements (including the Standards for Commercial Support) and Accreditation Policies. Please see the programs guidelines for requirement details.
- Performance Improvement: Performance improvement (PI) activities describe structured, long-term processes by which a physician or group of physicians can learn about specific performance measures, retrospectively assess their practice, apply these measures prospectively over a useful interval, and re-evaluate their performance. Credit designation not based on an hour-for-hour basis.
- Learning from Teaching: "Learning from Teaching," commonly known as speaker credit, is an activity type developed by the AMA. A speaker may receive credit for the preparation, not the teaching, of an original presentation as part of anAMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ activity. No credits are given for repeat presentations of the same material. It is the responsibility of the physician to only claim the credit once, and credit may not be simultaneously earned as both a presenter and learner.
Credit
CME credit is designated on an hour-for-hour basis, i.e., for every hour you spend in a live CME activity, you receive 1 hour of CME credit. Hours can be broken down into quarter hours. Scheduled breaks, business meetings, and other activities do not qualify as CME. Each physician should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of his or her participation in the activity.
Enduring materials must be evaluated by the planning committee to create a good-faith estimate to complete the self-study activity (ie, journal-based CME, self-tests, computer-based activities, video or audio tapes, etc). The estimate becomes the designated maximum amount of CME credit for the activity. The individual physician is required to keep track of the time spent on the activity, and claim credit commensurate with the extent of his or her participation in the activity.
Application Process
The Timeline provides an overview of the Category I application process.