Check out this compilation of interviews and impressions from this year’s Alliance for CME conference put together by Jonathan Marx of InQuill Medical Communications, LLC. I love that he did it as a multimedia presentation, though it does take a little longer to go through than the usual written account. I also love that he takes on an intriguing question: Is CME dead?

Again, there’s an interesting discussion of this coverage on the CME LinkedIn group.

The Accreditation Council for CME is looking for input about its Web site as it begins a redevelopment it hopes will make the site more user-friendly, according to an e-mail I received recently. So if you have a few minutes (the info I got said it’ll take just 10-15 minutes to complete), please fill out this survey by Monday, Feb. 21. It’s already come a long way, I think, and with your insights, hopefully ACCME will continue along the path its taken over the past couple of years toward making its Web site more useful and easier to navigate, which will make all of our lives easier!

Sheesh, I go away for a little sailing trip to the British Virgin Islands (it was wonderful–thanks for asking!), and I come back to this interesting post on the Policy and Medicine blog about the American Board of Medical Specialties’ white paper exploring the idea of asking its members to institute separate accreditation systems for continuing medical education that relates to maintenance of certification. on CME for maintenance of certification.

I haven’t read through it in any great detail yet, but on first glance, I have to agree with Tom Sullivan that it seems unnecessary at best, that all this is already covered by the Accreditation Council for CME — that is, after all, its job. I’m trying to imagine a world in which we have 24 additional accreditation systems to manage, in addition to ACCME’s. And do we really need to continue trotting out the old “we must get rid of commercial support” mantra every time CME is mentioned? I guess so, since here we go again. I’ll need to spend some more time with this once I get my land legs back to better understand the rationale behind the white paper’s proposals.

For those of you who have already taken a look at this–what do you think? ABMS wants to know, so send in your comments to ABMS_MOC_Support_Program@abms.org (and if you wouldn’t mind copying me, I’d love to know what you think as well.)

Update: On further reading and contemplation, I think I misunderstood what the whole white paper was about — which seems to be more how to accommodate what’s needed for CME for MOC into how we’re currently doing things, not thinking about creating a whole new layer of accreditation (hence all the strikeouts, and the modification of the head for this posting).

While it’s certainly open to interpretation (see Lew Miller’s ideas on how to clarify the language), I like how George Mejicano, MD, the Alliance for CME’s president, put it in this response: “From what I understand, ABMS is interested in exploring a process to work through the various issues and solutions, and clarity regarding many unresolved issues will become evident over time. For now, the White Paper does not represent policy or standards but is a place to start thinking about the issues related to CME/CPD and its role in MOC.” (He also lays out some of those issues in a pretty useful way.)

This is another good summary, in an article I wish I had time to write last week: “ABMS’s certifying boards lack a general understanding of all the requirements of CME, explained Dr. Nancy Davis, an expert in MOC CME invited by ABMS to contribute to discussions, ’so the whole purpose…is to help [ABMS], not create new requirements and accreditation systems, [but] in fact to help them understand how the system we have can support MOC.’”

There’s also a great conversation about this happening on the CME LinkedIn group that I highly recommend you check out. Interestingly, one person thinks that it may be more of a threat to the AMA PRA credit system than to the current accreditation system. Hmm.

I’ll be writing something about this for our next issue, so if you have any thoughts you’d be willing to share, please let me know.

Note to self: Hold off on commenting on anything you read within 24 hours of coming back from vacation!

Is it just me, or was there a really incredible energy around this year’s Alliance for Continuing Medical Education conference? I don’t remember ever leaving the conference feeling so hopeful about the future of the CME enterprise, or about the Alliance’s ability to lead its members into that future. Actually, I know it’s not just me, because everyone I spoke with, both on site in San Francisco last week and on the phone since, has mentioned it without me even asking. There was a palpable sense of empowerment, of being able to finally start doing more of what we’ve been talking about at these conferences for so long.

I’m not sure what to attribute it to: The Alliance’s new strategic plan, mission, and vision? The overall excellence of the content presented? The forays into social media (where even the Alliance’s new president, George Mejicano, MD, aka @badgergeorge, was Twittering live from the dais)? The fact that, for a change, the community isn’t reeling from fresh-off-the-presses media attacks or new regulatory requirements and could focus on being proactive about learning and doing instead of reacting and just trying to survive with your accreditation status intact? Whatever the reason, I hope the Alliance will be able to sustain and build upon this newly energized community as it carries through its new strategic plan.

I’d also like to thank the Alliance staff and volunteers who put this experience together for us. I know it may not have seemed like it at times, but from this participant’s perspective, it was worth all that work you put into it. Consider this your virtual standing ovation!

P.S. What do you think of the Alliance’s new strategic plan? Do you have comments, questions, or ideas for what the organization’s new name should be? I know you’ll be peppering the Alliance with comments, but I’d love to hear your thoughts too—please e-mail me or drop a comment below. I’m putting together an article on it and could use your help, as always. Thanks!