MedChi: The Maryland State Medical Society

MAP System

For the
Accreditation of
Providers of Continuing Medical Education
In Maryland and DC

PURPOSES OF ACCREDITATION

The major purposes of accreditation are to ensure the quality and integrity of the continuing medical education activities of accredited providers by

• Establishing criteria for evaluation of educational programs and their activities,
• Assessing whether accredited organizations meet and maintain standards,
• Promoting organizational self-assessment and improvement, and
• Recognizing excellence.

The MedChi, Maryland State Medical Society’s
Accredited Provider System (MAP System) Mission & Purpose Statement

The MedChi Accredited Provider System is governed by the oversight of the Continuing Medical Education Review Committee (CMERC). The MAP System is administered by the staff of the MedChi Department of Continuing Medical Education. The role of CMERC is to accredit, assure and promote, continuing medical education of the highest quality for physicians in the State of Maryland and the region.

The CMERC will accredit as intrastate Accredited CME Providers those local hospitals that primarily have continuing medical education programs limited to hospital staffs and physicians in the local community; medical organizations that do not have national scope, e.g., city, county medical societies; and local units of voluntary health agencies not under national administration for their continuing medical education programs.  Such intrastate sponsors may offer one CME activity per year that is national or regional in scope, i.e. advertised to an audience that goes beyond Maryland and bordering areas of surrounding states, with the permission of the CMERC.

An organization is not eligible for accreditation through the MAP System if its program is devoted to the advocacy of unscientific modalities of diagnosis or therapy.

CMERC bases the decision to accredit an institution upon its determination that the institution is substantially meeting the requirements of the ACCME’s Essential Areas, The Updated Criteria, the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support (SCS), Policies and the guidelines for awarding American Medical Association (AMA) Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA) Category 1 Credit.  The Essential Areas and the Updated Criteria, and SCS are set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) for the providers of continuing medical education. They are designed to ensure the quality and integrity of continuing medical education activities.  The ACCME was created and is governed by seven sponsoring organizations. Those organizations are the: American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Association for Hospital Medical Education, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, and the Federation of State Medical Boards.

The AMA PRA recognizes physician participation in continuing medical education activities. This program, established in 1968, recognizes physicians who, by participating in CME activities, demonstrate their commitment to straying current with advances in medicine. AMA PRA Category 1 Credit offers a system to measure and track physician participation in certified CME activities. AMA PRA credit is recognized and accepted by hospital credentialing bodies, state medical licensure boards and medical specialty certifying boards. In the state of Maryland physicians are currently required by the Maryland Board of Physicians (the state licensure governing body) to complete a minimum of 50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits within the term of their license.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The primary responsibilities of MedChi are to

• Set and administer standards and criteria for providers of quality CME for physicians and related professionals,
• Certify that accredited providers are capable of meeting the requirements of the Essential Areas,
• Relate CME to medical care and the continuum of medical education,
• Evaluate the effectiveness of its policies,
• Assist providers in continually improving their programs, and thereby
• Assure physicians, the public, and the CME community that CME programs meet the MedChi criteria for compliance with the Essential Areas.

The primary responsibilities of an Accredited Provider are

• Abide by the standards and criteria set for providers of quality CME for physicians and related professionals,
• Maintain compliance with the Essential Areas and Their Elements,
• Provide CME that is within the establish definition of CME,
• To seek out new and innovative formats that meet the needs of physicians and delivery high quality, timely CME activities,
• To work to ensure that CME activities are free from bias and conflict of interest,
• To strive to provide CME that changes the practice behavior of physicians in directions justified by emerging evidence and, ultimately, to demonstrate that the outcome of patients improve.

Definition of a Program of CME

Accreditation is granted on the basis of the provider’s demonstrated ability to plan and implement CME activities in accordance with the ACCME’s Essential Areas and Elements, Criteria and Policies, MedChi Policies and Requirements (see MedChi MAP System Mission statement) and the AMA’s requirements regarding the awarding of credit for CME. The Provider must exercise responsibility for all CME activities through its recognized CME administrative unit. The Provider should identify those CME activities within its overall program which meet the Essential Areas, Elements, Criteria and Policies.

Eligibility

Institutions and organizations not eligible for accreditation directly by the ACCME may seek accreditation from MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society. To be eligible for accreditation, a provider must offer a program of continuing professional education for physicians. Organizations whose activities draw registrants in excess of 20% from areas outside of Maryland and its contiguous states are advised to seek accreditation from the ACCME.

An organization is not eligible for accreditation if its program is devoted solely to advocacy of a modality of diagnosis or treatment which is not a subject for instruction in most medical schools whose programs of medical education are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. An organization is not eligible for accreditation if, in the judgment of MedChi’s Continuing Medical Education Review Committee (CMERC), its program is devoted to advocacy of unscientific modalities of diagnosis, treatment or therapy.

MedChi does not accredit organizations that solely produce and/or market a product (device, biologic or pharmaceutical as regulated by the Food and Drug Administration) or activities about a product (device, biologic or pharmaceutical as regulated by the Food and Drug Administration)

Dual Accreditation

A single provider of continuing medical education may not maintain accreditation by the ACCME and MedChi at the same time.

When a MedChi accredited provider alters its function and seeks and achieves accreditation from the ACCME, that provider should promptly notify MedChi, withdraw from the MedChi Accreditation Provider System (MAP System), and ask to be deleted from the MAP System listing of accredited providers of CME. Should an ACCME accredited provider change its role and become accredited by MedChi, a similar procedure must be followed.

If your organization interested in becoming an Accredited Provider in the MAP System please review the following:

Only certain organizations are eligible to receive accreditation as a provider of continuing medical education (CME). The following are the criteria that an organization must meet before consideration for accreditation:

• Be located in the United States and its Territories.
• Be developing and/or presenting a program of CME for physicians on a regular and recurring basis.
• Cannot be a commercial interest.
• Cannot be developing and/or presenting a program of CME that is, in the judgment of MedChi, the ACCME or AMA, devoted to advocacy on unscientific modalities of diagnosis or therapy.
• Present activities that have “valid” content. Specifically, the organization must be presenting activities that promote recommendations, treatment or manners of practicing medicine that are within the definition of CME. Applicants or Providers are not eligible for accreditation if they present activities that promote treatments that are known to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits or are known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients

Based on the criteria above, is your organization eligible for accreditation?

ACCME’s Policy on Content Validation: All the recommendations involving clinical medicine in a CME activity must be based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their indications and contraindications in the care of patients. All scientific research referred to, reported or used in CME in support or justification of a patient care recommendation must conform to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis. Providers are not eligible for accreditation or re-accreditation if their current activities promote recommendations, treatment or manners of practicing medicine that are not within the definition of CME, or known to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits or known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients.

Is your organization compliant with the ACCME’s Policy on Content Validation?

For questions or more information contact us at: MAPSystem@medchi.org