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In response to growing concerns about keeping health information private, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The legislation includes a privacy rule that creates national standards to protect individuals’ personal health information. Patient authorization must be obtained OR information de-identified. The items considered to be identifiers by the federal government and therefore to be removed are extensive—basically anything that could tie the medical information to an individual—including, but not limited to name, address, social security and medical record number, picture of face, any date associated with the individual (admission, discharge, birth, death), and implanted device serial numbers. WHENEVER POSSIBLE, DE-IDENTIFY INFORMATION TO BE PRESENTED AT CONFERENCES. For additional information, visit http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa.

No, it is up to the Activity CME Chair to select appropriate topics and speakers for their CME activity based upon the target audience’s educational needs. The Activity CME Chair can request a Speaker List from a pharmaceutical representative and then select an appropriate speaker and topic from the list. The Activity CME Chair should then communicate with the chosen speaker and delineate the learning objectives he/she would like the speaker to address (see ACCME Standard 1.1).

No, the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support require that all support from commercial interests be provided to the accredited CME provider in the form of an educational grant (see ACCME Standards 3.8 and 3.9).

No, pharmaceutical sales representatives or representatives of medical product/device manufacturers cannot pay directly for the food. However, they can provide an educational grant to APPNA in support of the food costs (see ACCME Standard 3).

The ACCME requires CME providers to require everyone who is in a position to control the content of an educational activity to disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest(s) in order to prevent potential bias in the educational content.

Direct Sponsorship: A CME activity that APPNA CME develops and implements internally for its own membership.
Jointly Sponsorship: A CME activity that is developed and implemented by two institutions or organizations and only one of the institutions or organizations is accredited by the ACCME. The accredited provider (e.g., APPNA) must take responsibility for a CME activity when it is presented in cooperation with a non-accredited institution or organization. A commercial interest cannot take the role of non-accredited entity in a joint sponsorship relationship (Source: ACCME).
Co-sponsorship: A CME activity presented by two or more accredited providers. One institution must take responsibility for the activity.

Contact the APPNA Office of CME at (630) 968-8585 or cme@appna.org to discuss your activity. See also the Steps for Certifying CME Activity page.

AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM is the most common type of credit physicians need for medical license maintenance. In order for an activity to be designated for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, it must be planned by an accredited CME provider.

Contact the APPNA Office of CME at (630) 968-8585 or cme@appna.org to discuss your activity. See also the Steps for Certifying CME Activity page.

According to the American Medical Association, Category 1 CME activities are:♦ Formally planned activities that include documentation of acceptable needs assessment, learning objectives, educational design, an evaluation method, and disclosure.
♦ Planned and implemented in full compliance with the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support.
♦ Prospectively certified for credit by an ACCME-accredited CME Provider.Category 2 “self claim” credits are:♦ Informally planned physician-initiated activities such as practice-based self-study, consultations with colleagues, teaching, M&M conferences, journal clubs, etc.
♦ APPNA is not involved with planning, certifying, or tracking Category 2 activities.

Although not limited to; APPNA mainly qualifies educational activities for CME certification that are lectures and/or meetings in which learners are physically present.

The American Medical Association helps doctors help patients by uniting physicians nationwide to work on the most important professional and public health issues.

ACCME is the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and is the organization that sets the standards for the accreditation of all providers of CME activities.

Continuing Medical Education (CME) is defined as “educational activities that serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession” (source: ACCME and AMA).