By applying, the applicant is acknowledging that the AAFP accepts commercial support for CME activities and topics for which there is a demonstrated need for family physician education. Inclusion of a financially supported program does not constitute AAFP endorsement of a product or service. All supporting companies are required to sign an agreement to abide by all ACCME Standards for Commercial Support. The understanding of the AAFP is that support of independent CME sessions such as this does not require reporting to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The AAFP has made every effort to ensure that these sessions will not require reporting and has worked with our commercial supporters to make sure they understand why these activities are exempt from reporting. However, the final determination as to the reportability of certain payments to faculty is made by each commercial supporter.
All AAFP faculty are required to use the AAFP PowerPoint template. A version of the PowerPoint presentation must be submitted electronically to the AAFP by the stated deadline.
All faculty will sign a faculty service agreement (FSA) and must submit all required forms and presentation materials by stated deadlines. If faculty do not meet these deadlines and do not correspond with the staff contact, that individual’s honorarium will be reduced by 20% per missed deadline. Egregious delays in meeting deadlines may result in nonpayment of honorarium or replacement as a faculty member, as detailed in the FSA.
Faculty is expected to read and understand all Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines about privacy. Faculty is encouraged to address cultural differences in patient care, when appropriate. Cultural proficiency is an initiative of the AAFP.
A primary goal for faculty is to cover the stated learning objectives for their presentations and to ensure that learners are receiving the most pertinent information for their practice.
All AAFP faculty must understand and agree to the following:
The AAFP discourages individuals speaking at CME events from participating in commercial or promotional exhibits, including, without limitation, Satellite CME Events and Product Theaters (a “Concurrent Event”) held over the same days as the CME activity whether officially sponsored by the AAFP. If the faculty chooses to participate in a Concurrent Event, the faculty member shall promptly notify the AAFP of such participation, which may entitle AAFP to terminate the faculty agreement pursuant to the terms of the agreement.
Any reference within slides or verbally from the podium to a product or drug that implies endorsement by the AAFP is prohibited and may have legal ramifications. The use of trade names is prohibited unless several trade names are listed as treatment options and their generic names are also included.
The AAFP believes that it is important for learners to know when unlabeled or investigational uses of commercial products are discussed during a CME activity. Planned discussion of unapproved or investigational uses of products must be acknowledged in writing to the learners prior to the start of the CME activity.
If an unplanned discussion of the unlabeled or investigational use of a product occurs (e.g., during a question-and-answer session), the faculty member should inform learners prior to answering the question or responding to the discussion point that the use in question under discussion is unlabeled or investigational.
The AAFP requires all faculty to certify as to authorship and ownership of content materials and the use of third-party content in every CME educational activity/product. All third-party owned images, photos, pictures, tables, graphs, etc. used in faculty presentation/materials must have copyright approvals from those third parties.
The Faculty Member represents and warrants (a) that the Materials are factually accurate and contain no libelous or otherwise unlawful statements; (b) that the Faculty Member is the sole author and owner of the Materials (except as disclosed in the Materials submitted to the AAFP pursuant to Section 2(c)) and/or has obtained the right to use and license the Materials as contemplated hereunder; and (c) that such use and license will not violate the proprietary or personal rights of any third party (including, without limitation, copyrights, trademarks or privacy rights).
All AAFP faculty will be asked to grant the AAFP several rights regarding presentations. Among this list of rights is allowing the AAFP to: record, reproduce, distribute, and sell the content (e.g. Enduring product); produce a handout of the slide deck to provide to learners; and use the faculty’s photo and biography in connection with the presentation.