AAFP CME Credit System Eligibility Requirements

(Definitions established by the Commission on Continuing Professional Development)

1.     The CME activity must be relevant to the scope of family medicine and comply with the Prescribed or Elective credit definitions.

• PRESCRIBED: The CME activity must be primarily designed for physicians and have an AAFP Active or Life member directly involved, as described below, to ensure appropriateness for physicians and relevancy to the specialty of family medicine.
  
  • The member should review the titles and learning objectives for each topic within the CME activity. The review should focus on ensuring all topics included in the activity are relevant to the scope of family medicine and designed at a level educationally appropriate for physicians who graduated from medical school and have been awarded an M.D./D.O. degree. If the member agrees that the content meets the definition of AAFP Prescribed credit, then they should provide their AAFP ID number for the credit application.

• ELECTIVE: The CME activity may be primarily designed for health care professionals other than physicians. Direct involvement of an AAFP Active or Life member as outlined in the Prescribed Credit definition is not required.

2.     The CME activity must:

a.     Be based on the educational needs of learners based on their professional practice gaps,
b.     Address one or more ACGME/ABMS core competencies,
c.      Engage learners in the education as appropriate, and
d.     Define and evaluate the learner’s achieved outcome level.

3.     All topics must have learning objectives that state what the learner is intended to be able to do upon completion of the education.

4.     Clinical topics must be:

            a.     Evidence-based and/or customary and generally accepted (CGA), OR,
            b.     If some or all the content is not evidence-based or CGA,

              i.     It must not appear to the COCPD to be dangerous or ineffective.
              ii.     In this case, content must:

1.     Offer a balanced explanation of potential benefits and risks, AND,
2.     Be presented in a manner that is intended to inform the physician rather than train the physician in the practical application of the content.

5.     Non-clinical topics must adhere to one or more of the following and eligibility must be evident within the learning objectives:

a.     Have a direct bearing on a physician’s ability to deliver patient care.
b.     Assist physicians in carrying out their professional responsibilities more effectively and efficiently.
c.      Directly support the profession of family medicine.

6.     The CME activity must fully comply with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education.

Please note topics for the physicians’ personal benefit (personal financial planning, practicing yoga, etc.) are not eligible for AAFP CME credit.

Functional Medicine Topics:

• Eligible activities and sessions for credit: limited to those that provide the clinician with an overview or scope of Functional Medicine and the techniques that Functional Medicine practitioners use so that the clinician can educate patients who inquire about Functional Medicine. (Examples may include introducing the topic of Functional Medicine or explaining the Functional Medicine matrix).
• Ineligible activities and sessions for credit: those that teach the clinician how to do various techniques, modalities, or applications of Functional Medicine that practitioners may implement in their clinical practices. (Examples may include teaching how to treat patients using various Functional Medicine modalities or applying Functional Medicine to clinical practice).

AAFP Oversight

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is charged with exercising its professional judgment in the interpretation and application of the AAFP Credit System eligibility requirements in order to ensure that AAFP credit is awarded to activities that are appropriate for AAFP members. The AAFP has the authority to deny any activity or portion of an activity that does not appear to align with the intentions of the requirements.

Previous CME credit determination decisions do not influence current application reviews. This is in part because rules change and evolve over time, along with the CME environment. Prior CME credit approvals are not a guarantee that future applications or sessions will be approved.

(May 2021 BOD) (October 2023 COD)