Profession
AMA eyes how conflict-of-interest rules impact CME
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 10, 2006
The AMA will study how the growing body of industry, accreditation and governmental rules regarding commercial involvement with continuing medical education may be limiting the CME that's available for physicians. The AMA Council on Medical Education will report back to the House of Delegates in 2007.
The council's initial report presented at the Association's Annual Meeting in Chicago in June found that although growing conflict-of-interest restrictions had not significantly reduced commercial support for CME, the increase in administrative work had become burdensome, particularly for small, state-accredited providers. Because this could reduce the amount of locally driven CME for community physicians, delegates opted to continue to study the issue.
They also called for the study because CME providers are still assessing the impact of the growing body of oversight rules. In 2002, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Code adopted industry guidelines for CME. In 2003, the Office of Inspector General issued CME compliance guidelines, and in 2004 the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education updated its conflict-of-interest standards.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/07/10/prbf0710.htm.
