AOE Compliance Connection – October 2019 Newsletter

Welcome to the October ‘19 edition of AOE Compliance Connection, AOE’s monthly newsletter. This month, we launch into a new series focused on ACCME Accreditation with Commendation – each month, we’ll feature one of the five commendation categories and the related criteria. Also, in this month’s newsletter, we share a Board of Directors announcement from the ACCME, and updates from the three major accreditation boards, ACCME, ACPE and ANCC. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for our weekly compliance tip and other timely updates!

Over the next several months, we’re going to take a deep-dive into each of the five categories that comprise the New Menu of Criteria to obtain Accreditation with Commendation.

This month we’ll begin with Category #1: Promotes Team-Based Education which includes C23, C24 and C25. This category centers on collaboration in the medical profession, a key principle in team-based education.

From the outset, the common denominator across all three criteria in this category is that a provider must attest to meeting the criterion with at least 10% of activities (but no less than two) during the accreditation term and provide evidence of specific examples based on program size (Small: 2; Medium: 4; Large: 6; Extra-Large: 8).

Criterion 23: Members of interprofessional teams are engaged in the planning and delivery of interprofessional continuing education (IPCE).

IPCE is planned by the team for the team. IPCE is not just about designing education for physicians primarily and including nurses, pharmacists and/or other healthcare professionals when applicable, but is truly about approaching education from a team-based view. It’s important to note that the ACCME’s definition of interprofessional is different learner types – physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists etc. and not different physician types such as cardiologist, oncologist, internist, etc. IPCE is different than multidisciplinary education.

The professional practice gap(s) and corresponding educational need(s) for IPCE activities should be measured from the standpoint of a healthcare team consisting of two or more professions. To demonstrate compliance with this criterion, a provider must have planners and faculty who are members of the interprofessional target audience. In other words, if physicians and nurses are the target audience, they should be represented as activity planners and presenters.

Criterion 24: Patient/public representatives are engaged in the planning and delivery of CME.

Compliance with this criterion requires a CME provider to improve the well-being of the patients and the public with the accredited CME activities being developed. Patients and the public are often some of the best informants when it comes to validating professional practice gaps and educational needs among healthcare professionals engaging them in teaching can be both powerful and impactful. Examples could include a patient panel with Q&A and/or a presenter who is a patient and/or public representative. As with C23, for C24 patients and/or public representatives must be represented as both planners and faculty. The ACCME permits broad latitude for defining “planner” and “faculty.” Examples could include: planning committee, expert advisor, presenter, panelist and/or participant for a case-based discussion. One last note: CME providers should be mindful that patients, family members and public representatives must provide disclosure as their involvement places them in a position to control the content of an accredited CME activity.

Criterion 25: Students of the health professions are engaged in the planning and delivery of CME.

This criterion refers to residents or fellows who are physicians, students in nursing school, etc. These individuals are frequently very informative and can help accredited providers construct needed education given they have a unique perspective and fresh input. Plus, they’re the future of healthcare! Once again, as with C23 and C24, to achieve compliance with C25, a provider must include students of the health professions as both planners and faculty.

The ACCME does clarify that students of the health professions is broader than just medical students or residents and includes medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physician assistants and others across the continuum of healthcare education and graduate education.

The ACCME has a number of resources available on their website including FAQs and Examples of Compliance.

If you are interested in training and/or strategic planning as related to the New Menu of Criteria for Accreditation with Commendation, please contact AOE Consulting at inquire@aoeconsulting.com.

Last month, the ACCME announced that it is now seeking nominees for individuals who are interested in serving as a public director on its Board of Directors (which consists of 20 members).

The Board of Directors is comprised of two public directors (one of which has the announced vacancy), two nominees from each of the ACCME’s seven member organizations, two directors affiliated with ACCME Recognized Accreditors, and two non-voting representatives from the government.

The available role of Public Director/Member features the same rights and responsibilities as the other directors, and is a full voting member of the Board. The ACCME expects  that this role will monitor all Board and committee discussions to facilitate the identification of potential conflicts of interest that might arise.

Details about eligibility can be found in this post containing the ACCME announcement; the deadline for nominations is May 1, 2020.

Awarding partial credit continues to be a topic that causes many providers a degree of confusion. How do we know when it is allowed and when it is not allowed?

Considering partial credit for a CPE activity isn’t necessary for ACPE-accredited providers. In Section V of the ACPE’s Policies and Procedures Manual, policy 5.0c explains that providers may not offer partial credit for CPE activities. Instead, the learner receives full credit for completing the activity successfully, and no credit for non-completion.

In the situation of a conference, or a multi-activity event, this requires a slightly different approach. To ensure that learners receive credit for each session attended, if they are unable to attend all sessions associated with the conference, each individual session must be registered as an individual activity, complete with its own Universal Activity Number (UAN) and supporting documentation. The ACPE has developed upload software for those circumstances when many UANs are requested at the same time.