As a CME provider, am I required to give learners a certificate as documentation of their participation in the activity?

The AMA Handbook specifies that accredited providers “must be able to provide documentation to participating physicians of the credit awarded at the request of the physician.”  The provider must document credit awarded and retain these documents for a minimum of six years, but there is flexibility in the type of documentation.  A certificate, transcript or other means of documentation is acceptable, as long as it contains the following requirements:

• Physician’s name
• Name of accredited CME provider
• Title of activity
• Learning format
• Location of activity (if applicable)
• Date(s) of live activity or date that physician completed the activity
• Number of AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM awarded