WEB EXTRA!
It's been a dozen years since the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education issued its Standards for Commercial Support of Continuing Medical Education. They've received occasional tweaks since then, but it wasn't until about two years ago that the ACCME undertook a major review and update of those standards.
That update is now all but complete, lacking only final approval by each of the council's seven member organizations.
The new standards don't differ greatly from the existing ones, said Norman Kahn, M.D., AAFP vice president for science and education and chair of the ACCME task force that revised the standards. They encompass six core principles:
Areas of particular focus during the revision process, said Kahn, included disclosure policies and how conflicts of interest are resolved. One change he noted is that disclosure of relationships between CME planners or faculty and industry will now be required. "No more 'Dr. X refused to disclose.' That will not be acceptable," he said. Failure to disclose means disqualification.
As for how the revised standards might impact one of the Academy's top money-makers, its CME journal American Family Physician: "Our current advertising policies are in total alignment with the ACCME standards, and we're delighted with that," said Michael Springer, AAFP vice president for publishing and communications.
As an accredited CME provider, the Academy has always taken pains to separate educational content from promotional advertising, Springer said, a fact not lost on the ACCME.
"I think this (revised document) represents a good-faith effort by ACCME to tighten up the amount of self-regulation we do," said Springer. "And self-regulation is the key here. We need to be responsible for our own educational activities and to make sure that they are as appropriate and as free from commercial bias as they can be."
Go to http://www.accme.org/whatsnew/sec_new_nw1_251.asp to access the revised ACCME document, "Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure the Independence of CME Activities." Help using PDF files is at http://www.aafp.org/pdf.xml.
ACCME member organizations have until Sept. 28 to review and approve the new standards. Only then do they go into effect. At that time, the ACCME will disseminate information on how the standards are to be implemented.
To reach writer Cindy Borgmeyer, e-mail cborgmey@aafp.org.
FP Report is published by the
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Copyright © 2004 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.