APPNA offers live CME activities, including courses, conferences, and workshops. APPNA’s long-standing commitment to offering quality continuing medical education for physicians and healthcare professionals supports our mission to optimize patient care. To this end, our programs are designed to engage learners in interactive learning sessions; provide the most up-to-date information and strategies; and develop or enhance skills that may be applied in clinical practice, research, or teaching.

Aamir Ehsan, MD
Chair, Research Education and Scientific Affairs (RESA) Committee 2024

Purpose and Mission

CME Program Purpose and Mission Statement

The mission of the APPNA Office of Continuing Medical Education is to assist practicing physicians, advanced practice providers, and other health care professionals with educational activities to enhance their knowledge and skills in the subject area(s) offered, and apply the knowledge and skills to improve performance and patient outcomes in their practice settings.

The purpose of the APPNA Office of CME is to collaborate with APPNA members to identify educational needs and to design, implement, evaluate and document educational conferences and initiatives. APPNA CME’s core services include:

• Certifying learning activities for physicians that meet Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Essentials, Criteria and Standards for Commercial Support.
• Tracking credit for physicians and other healthcare providers who attend APPNA CME-certified activities.

The content areas are inclusive of all areas of contemporary primary and specialty practice including leadership and management skills. Content is presented when it is appropriate to physicians and other healthcare professionals and of benefit to patients or to the public health.

The target audience includes practicing physicians, advanced practice providers, and other healthcare professionals of APPNA’s membership and, when appropriate, a national and international audience of these healthcare professionals.

The types of activities include: regional, national, international symposia and conferences. The scope of these activities involves the body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, the discipline of clinical medicine, and the provision of healthcare to the public.

The expected results are to:

• Assist physicians and healthcare professionals in gaining competency and improving performance in order to become better able to provide higher quality care in order to enhance the health status of the population.
• Assist in the dissemination of new medical knowledge.
• Collaborate across the continuum of medical education.
• Collaborate on the design of interdisciplinary educational strategies to improve patient safety and to facilitate patient-centered care.
• Contribute to the CME profession through service, education, leadership training, and research.
• Enhance clinician leadership within the APPNA Membership.
• Enhance the quality of the educational process through consultation and documented compliance with accreditation standards/criteria.
• Link the American Board of Medical Specialties competencies (patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice) and/or Institute of Medicine competencies (provide patient-centered care, apply quality improvement, utilize informatics, work in interdisciplinary teams, employ evidence-based practice) into activities.
• Optimize appropriate prescribing behaviors.
• Promote the practice of evidence-based medicine.
• Improve the health and health awareness of the many communities that we serve.
• Develop and present activities in a manner that is culturally competent.

Revised and approved January 2016

Policies & Procedures

APPNA CME Policy
Guidance for the development and implementation of CME activities.

APPNA CME Conflict of Interest Policy & Procedure
Guidance for the identification, management, and resolution of potential conflicts of interest for CME activities.

APPNA CME Policy On Honoraria and Reimbursement Expenses
CME Guidelines Related to Honoraria and Reimburement for Lecturers, Moderators, Staff and other faculty.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CME?

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).
Who is the ACCME?
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.
Who is the AMA?
The American Medical Association helps doctors help patients by uniting physicians nationwide to work on the most important professional and public health issues.
What types of activities qualify for CME certification?
Although not limited to; APPNA mainly qualifies educational activities for CME certification that are lectures and/or meetings in which learners are physically present.
What type of CME credit do physicians need?
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.
What is the difference between Category 1 and Category 2 credit?
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.
How do I certify my activity for CME credit?
Contact the APPNA Office of CME at (630) 968-8585 or [email protected] to discuss your activity. See also the Steps for Certifying CME Activity page.
What is the difference between direct, joint, and co-sponsorship?
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.
Why do CME faculty (speakers, presenters, moderators, activity medical directors, authors, planning committee member, etc) have to complete a CME disclosure form?
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.
Is it okay for a pharmaceutical sales representative to bring in food for my CME activity?
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).
A pharmaceutical company has offered to provide an educational grant to cover the speaker’s honorarium, but they will “take care of the speaker’s travel.” Is this okay?
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).
Can a pharmaceutical company choose who will speak at my CME activity?
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).
Why do I have to obtain patient authorization or de-identify information for my CME presentation?

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.

Resources

AMA Physicians Recognition Award

Requirements for Accredited Providers & Physicians

State CME Requirements for Physician Relicensure
State Medical Licensure Requirements & Statistics 2009

Recognizing Physicians’ Participation in Educational Activities
What Physicians Should Know About the AMA PRA Credit System

Claiming CME Credits

Claiming CME Credits

Attendees to APPNA CME activities will be provided a “Learner Notification Form” prior to the start of the CME program. Please be sure to receive a copy, as it will contain the instructions for claiming your CME hours and certificate.

If you have lost or misplaced the “Learner Notification Form”, please contact the CME chair or call the APPNA central office at 630-968-8585, ext. 108.

Developing a CME Presentation

The following information is intended to be useful to you and help you avoid any issues when developing slides or handout materials for your CME presentation.

1. HIPAA
• Remove all patient identifiers from laboratory studies, x-rays, imaging studies, slides, etc. OR obtain written permission from the patient to use his/her information as part of your presentation.
• Do not use identifiable photographs of patients unless written patient permission has been granted.
• Questions: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/privacysummary.pdf.

2. Copyright
• At a minimum, proper attribution should be included on tables, figures, algorithms, material copied and pasted from websites, etc. The source of the cited material can be properly acknowledged in a footnote on the slide.

3. Trade Names
• Generic names should be used instead of trade names in the educational materials (slides, abstracts, handouts, etc.). If the CME educational material or content includes trade names, where available trade names from several companies should be used, not just trade names from a single company.

4. Product Logos
• No product logos should be included in the educational materials (slides, abstracts, handouts, etc.).

5. Content Validation
• All recommendations involving clinical medicine in a CME activity must be based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their indications and contra-indications in the care of patients.
• All scientific research referred to, reported or used in CME in support or justification of a patient care recommendation must conform to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis.

Apply for CME

Are you interested in providing CME from APPNA at an affiliate program.

In order to apply for any CME activity, please fill out the form below. RESA Coordinator will reach out to you for further steps.

https://forms.gle/iSP6bsyiubPJWKkL8

Important! This form should be filled out by the CME Chair for the overall program.

APPNA is ACCME Accredited for providing AMA PRA Category 1TM CME credits which is renewed regularly through audits of our programs for their quality and lack of bias. Our current re-accreditation cycle is 2023.

The purpose of this form is to gather information required for compliance with rules and regulations of ACCME for accreditation. Kindly complete all the required fields below. Incomplete application will be returned without processing further delaying approval.

The application MUST be submitted 30 days before the start of the activity for consideration. No exceptions would be allowed.

For any query, please contact at following:

Waleed Zafar
APPNA RESA Coordinator
[email protected]

Danish Bhatti MD FAAN
APPNA RESA Committee Chair 2023
[email protected]