AOE Compliance Connection – June 2018 Newsletter

Welcome to the June edition of Compliance Connection, AOE’s monthly newsletter!

We look forward to sharing our monthly board updates (ACCME, ACPE, and ANCC) and event and news updates for the CME/CE Enterprise.

This newsletter is just one of the ways we come alongside our clients and help you navigate CME/CE compliance success. We encourage you to visit www.aoeconsulting.com for more information, including weekly compliance tips and information about each AOE team member!

Across the CME enterprise as a whole, the concept of Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) is not just a hot topic, but a solid future direction that providers and learners can plan to encounter, repeatedly.

In 2015, the ACCME, ACPE and ANCC collectively defined IPCE as occurring when “members from two or more professions learn with, from and about each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.”

No efforts towards increased IPCE have been stronger or more deliberate than Joint Accreditation, which offers organizations the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited and thus to allow learners a unified accreditation process and consistent set of accreditation standards.  As of January 2018, in addition to the ACCME, ACPE and ANCC, Joint Accreditation now includes collaborations with two new boards: The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) and the Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry’s Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (ARBO/COPE).

Specific to these new collaborations, Graham McMahon, President of the ACCME, stated, “We celebrate our collaboration with our colleague accreditors, AAPA and COPE, because it empowers educators to expand the diversity of their IPCE programs. With IPCE, all voices are heard—and this collaboration promotes the involvement of more professions in improving team care for the patients we all serve.”

In general, Joint Accreditation can help providers increase operational efficiency, saving resources such as time and money by allowing them to provide CE for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, PAs, and optometrists separately or together.  Joint accreditation can improve collaboration and reduce hierarchies among healthcare professions.  Additionally, Joint Accredited providers are entitled to award Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits.

To read more about the new board collaborations and about Joint Accreditation in general, click here.

Reaccreditation is a noteworthy endeavor for any CME team that requires an organized plan in order to get optimal value and benefit from the process. AOE Consulting has developed some best practices for managing reaccreditation. The reaccreditation process should start approximately 12 to 18 months prior to an accredited provider’s accreditation term expiration to ensure there is ample time to complete all components and allow for internal assessments and process updates, as may be needed or applicable.

Tip #1: Confirm key ACCME dates and deadlines in order to develop a comprehensive, internal timeline at least nine months in advance of the Self-Study and Performance-in-Practice submission deadline. This plan should identify key stakeholders and clearly delineate responsibilities and align with ACCME Reaccreditation Timeline and Provider Milestones.

Tip #2: In addition to an annual review of CME policies, procedures and forms, reaccreditation is an excellent time to evaluate these items for alignment with accreditation criteria and standards and to carefully consider areas where improvements might be made.

Tip #3: Make it a point to know the reaccreditation outline for both the Self-Study and Performance-in-Practice structured abstract. Being clear about expectations, word count and format on the front end can save hours of work and headache later. See AOE Consulting’s April newsletter for an overview.

Tip #4: Use a checklist, developed in alignment with accreditation criteria and standards, to audit CME activities selected for review. This can help ensure nothing is overlooked and provide some questions for a mock interview leading up to the actual ACCME Accreditation Interview.

Tip #5: Succinctness and clarity should prevail in the development of the Self-Study. While the narrative should thoroughly address each section and the questions imbedded within, steer clear of rambling and repetitiveness.

At the onset, the reaccreditation process can seem daunting and complex. However, with proactive planning, accredited providers can drive their reaccreditation to be a seamless process embedded with opportunities for reflection and improvement of their CME program.

As your team walks through the initial stages of planning and designing a CPE activity, it is good to have an understanding of the ACPE’s requirements at this stage. The Gap Analysis is an integral part of the activity design process, and informs much of the content itself.

In their Standards for Continuing Pharmacy Education, the ACPE dedicates Section 1 to the Content of CPE Activities, and within Section 1, Standard 2 to the Gap Analysis.

Based on this guidance, the provider must develop CPE activities based on a knowledge, skill, or practice gap. The first step of activity creation is identifying gaps between what pharmacists and pharmacy technicians currentlyknow or do and what is needed and ultimately desired in practice.

A correctly identified knowledge, skill, and/or practice gap will guide both the content development and the delivery of CPE activities. These gaps include a variety of causes, including self-reports from practitioners, changes in legislation, evaluation from accreditation boards, release of new evidence-based treatments or guidelines, etc.

Accredited providers should identify the root of the identified gap (i.e. the specific knowledge, skill, attitude, experience) which will, in turn, inform the activity itself, including activity type, specific learning objectives, which active learning exercise(s) to be included, and ultimately the activity outcomes.