AOE Compliance Connection – April 2022 Newsletter

Welcome to the April edition of AOE Compliance Connection, AOE’s monthly newsletter. In this month’s newsletter, we wrap up our series called “Did You Know?” featuring some helpful FAQs about some specific rules surrounding the use of commercial support according to the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Additionally, we offer a look at how the fight for social justice impacts the CE world. We also give you a sneak peek of AOE’s involvement at ACCME’s Annual Meeting later this month and finally, we unpack how AOE can help you survive (and thrive!) through a reaccreditation process. Follow our weekly compliance tips on Twitter and Facebook or email us at inquire@aoeconsulting.com with any questions. We look forward to supporting you and your CE team!

This month, we reach the end of our series featuring some of the ACCME’s most helpful FAQs. Some of the most helpful information on the ACCME website is tucked into the FAQ section and we’ve spent the past few months uncovering some gems of wisdom specific to the new Standards.

We began with questions related to stock ownership and patent holders, continued with a few questions related to the collection of disclosures and the mitigation of relevant financial relationships, added on the following month with three questions targeted to Standard 5 regarding the new requirement of 30-minutes between accredited and non-accredited educational sessions in the same educational space, and last month, featured a look at Standard 2, including learner consent and advertising boundaries.

This month, in our last installment, we’ll feature the use of commercial support! Let’s get started.

1) Whose expenses can be paid for with commercial support?

As a reminder, commercial support can be used to underwrite any of the provider’s expenses when it comes to a CE activity; this includes expenses related to the development and presentation of an activity. As such, the commercial support can be used to pay the expenses of teachers/presenters, authors, and anyone else who is engaged in either the development or presentation of the activity.

2) Can commercial supporters distribute promotional materials for CE activities, like “save the date announcement and brochures”?

The ACCME says “Yes”! This is a common question, but the answer is that the distribution of promotional materials for accredited education (such as a save the date announcement or a promotional brochure) is allowed. It’s important to note, however, that Standard 5.3 does prohibit any ineligible company from directly providing access to (or distributing) the actual accredited education to the learners.

3) Can an ineligible company require leftover money to be returned?

Yes, an ineligible company is allowed to stipulate in the written agreement for commercial support that any unspent (leftover) funds be returned by the accredited provider to the ineligible company.

See You There: ACCME Annual Meeting

As a reminder, the ACCME Annual Meeting will take place in Chicago (April 25-28). This year’s theme, Learn to Thrive reflects the goal of this meeting: to address the challenges and opportunities surrounding the CE community and to “ascend through action, reflection, and continuous growth”. As always, these annual meetings are designed to facilitate networking within the CE community, to acknowledge professional achievements, and to look together towards the future. In-person registration (here) and virtual registration (here) are available.

In last month’s newsletter, we detailed how AOE staff will be participating in the larger CE conversation by presenting in multiple forums. Here’s the recap:

• AOE Director of Operations, Carlye Armstrong, CHCP and AOE Program Manager, Renea Marin, CHCP will present Wednesday, April 27 from 10 – 11:15 am CDT their in-person presentation, Best Practices in Management of a Hybrid Meeting.

• Armstrong will also be presenting virtually in collaboration on Thursday April 28, 8:30 – 9:30 am CDT their presentation, Better Together: The Top 5 Best-Practices for Working in Joint Providership.

• Finally, AOE Program Manager Renea Marin, CHCP will co-present virtually Focusing on Inclusion and Leading to Great Change.

See You There: Alliance Industy Summit

The Alliance Industry Summit will take place May 4-6 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, FL. AOE Managing Director, Annika Borvansky, and Rockpointe CEO, Thomas Sullivan, will co-present on the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education Thursday, May 5 from 8:45-9:15am ET.

Specifically, their session will:

• Review the revised requirements and updates to terminology
• Assess the various types of continuing medical education (accredited, non-accredited, company directed)
  • CME Coalition IME Compliance Guide
• Discuss links to accredited CE activities from company websites
  • What are the compliance parameters?

In addition, this session will highlight two specific calls for action:

• Call to Action Providers: Request ACCME clarification regarding exclusion of stockholders in private companies as faculty or planners
• Call to Action Supporters: Update LOA language to match ACCME’s new terminology

Both the ACCME and AOE are committed to respond well to healthcare inequities and social injustices and we are committed to keeping you up to date as resources become available. AOE’s published Anti-Racism Stance is available for reading or downloading here, including a clear list of action steps that we take corporately. The ACCME’s webinar series, “Meeting Challenges Together”, is dedicated specifically to address important, topical concerns for the CE learner community, including teams, organizations, and even the surrounding communities.

The hour-long webinar “Advancing Social Justice with Accredited Continuing Education” is available here and features an honest conversation with some ACCME representatives about some key topics. Four steps you’ll be able to take after viewing the webinar include:

• Training clinicians to see and recognize their own implicit bias in their practices
• Incorporating specific empathy training into your existing CE curriculum
• Addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion into your existing CE curriculum
• Pursuing equity policy development at the organizational level

We are a small company. But every day, we achieve successes with our clients, staff members, and colleagues in the field of accredited continuing education. By taking active steps, learning and growing through these actions, we are confident we can achieve success in the American fight for social justice.