Medical Education News

NAMEC is proud to offer our support for the CME Coalition's efforts on behalf of the CME Community and to share this information with our members on the congressional bill currently being discussed that would clarify the exemption of accredited CME from the Sunshine Reporting Act. 

Found below is a letter of support from the CME Coalition to Senator Barasso, who introduced the bill to the Senate yesterday, and the draft of the bill. 

Letter of support - CME Coalition

Provider Payment Sunshine Act draft bill

Additional information about the CME Coalition efforts regarding submitting comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Servcies (CMS) is available on their web site.

ACHL was presented with the NAMEC Award for Best Practice in Collaboration. View details on this program:

Multispecialty Portfolio Approval Program Announces Part II - Part IV Linkage Pilot Program Launching in 2016

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Multispecialty Portfolio Approval ProgramTM (Portfolio Program) is pleased to introduce a new, two-year pilot, scheduled to launch on April 1, 2016.  The pilot will allow physicians in Portfolio Program sponsor-organizations, (certified by the 19 of the 20 Portfolio Program[1]  participating ABMS Member Boards) to receive Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Part II and Part IV credit for participating in live, Continuing Medical Education (CME) accredited, lifelong learning/self-assessment activities that are specifically and proactively linked to an "Improvement in Medical Practice" initiative.

If you are interested in participating in the pilot, or have additional questions regarding its structure and requirement, please contact Teena Nelson, MSPP Portfolio Manager, tnelson@abms.org 

Dr Peter Buch, a new member, reported  a very busy summer teaching GI.

His style is always case based, practical, interactive and fun.

His audiences have included Primary Care Providers, APRNs, PAs, Nurses, housestaff, GI fellows and Gastroenterologists.

Dr Buch is passionate about teaching and he especially likes the interaction with the audience.

"The interactions and questions always help me improve my lectures."

Dr Buch is currently planning 2016 lectures and would enjoy collaborating with you. 

He may be reached at CTGIMD@aol.com  or 860-573-1217

Dear CME friends and colleagues,

In early July of this year, Primary Care Network’s business partner, a meetings management company, abruptly ceased operations. As a result, Primary Care Network (PCN) had no choice but to cancel the scheduled 2015 fall series of Best Practices in Primary Care™ live regional meetings. Planning is currently underway to schedule a live regional meetings series in 2016.

It has come to our attention that many in the CME industry think that it was Primary Care Network (PCN) that closed its doors. The purpose of this communication is to inform the CME community that PCN is still in business and will continue to provide accreditation services, seek and execute educational grants, and partner with other medical education companies and associations on various CME initiatives. PCN is excited to continue to serve our extensive membership of primary care clinicians by providing exceptional continuing medical education and forming new relationships with educational partners in the coming year.

Primary Care Network (PCN), a not-for-profit organization founded in 1997 in Springfield, MO, is dedicated to improving patient care through quality continuing medical education (CME). PCN’s goal is to provide primary care clinicians with knowledge and resources to better serve their patients by providing the best patient-centered education and peer-to-peer opportunities. PCN is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and provides AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for CME activities in a wide variety of program formats and therapeutic areas. PCN has been surveyed by the ACCME and awarded Accreditation with Commendation for 6 years as a provider of CME (July 2013-July 2019).

Thank you for your continued support of Primary Care Network and our continuing medical education activities.

Sincerely,

ACCME's 2014 Annual Report has been released.  The annual report contains a comprehensive analysis of the size and scope of the CME enterprise nationwide, presenting statistics on CME program revenue, funding, participants, activities, and activity formats. 

Access the recent report as well as past reports at http://www.accme.org/news-publications/publications/annual-report-data.

If you would like to discuss anything in the report, the NAMEC Forum may be a good place to start.  The forum is viewable and accessible only by current NAMEC members. 

Check out page 10 of the latest issue of the ACEhp Almanac for an article written by NAMEC Board of Directors titled, “Death of the Medical Education Company? We Think Not.” 

Let us know your thoughts after reading the article by clicking "Add Comment" below (must be a logged in member to comment) or by emailing info@namec-assn.org. 

CMEpalooza Spring is a 1-day event scheduled for Wednesday, April 8, 2015, that will feature a series of sessions selected by the CME community from a pool of submitted abstracts. Broadcasts will stream live and recorded sessions will be available for viewing shortly after their conclusion. There is no charge to view or participate in any of these sessions.

Kurt Boyce, current NAMEC Secretary, will be part of the following session:

1:00 PM ET
Achieving Level 7 Outcomes: A MEC Perspective
This session will discuss the results of an award-winning educational initiative demonstrating outcomes at Moore’s level 7. Developed via collaboration between two medical education companies and a coalition of diverse educational partners, this initiative demonstrates how an innovative blend of professional and patient education (certified and noncertified) can lead to better clinical performance, improved patient health, and reduced health care costs. It also will address the initiative history, activity design, audience generation methods, and results of this long-term educational intervention.

Presenters
Kurt J. Boyce, Director, CME & Compliance, Applied Clinical Education
Amanda Glazar, PhD, CHCP, Senior Director, Education Srategy, Global Education Group

See more at http://cmepalooza.com/spring/