Welcome to the January edition of AOE Compliance Connection, AOE’s monthly newsletter. We are hopeful that you are enjoying a busy and productive first few weeks of 2018!
This month’s newsletter features Annual Reporting information for each of the three primary boards (ACCME, ANCC, ACPE) and a peek ahead at the upcoming Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions Annual Conference later this month.
As we head into 2018, we encourage you to visit www.aoeconsulting.com for ongoing information, including our weekly compliance tips!
Accreditation Board Bulletin: Annual Reporting
As 2017 has come to an end, we encourage you to begin thinking about Annual Reporting. Depending on the boards with which your organization holds accreditation, here are a few quick guidelines:
ACCME
The ACCME’s deadline for 2017 year-end reporting is April 2, 2018. If you are a state-accredited provider, please check with your accreditor for your state-specific reporting deadlines. As in years past, the ACCME’s Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) is used to complete year-end reporting requirements.
In October 2017, the ACCME implemented enhancements to PARS. If you haven’t logged into the Enhanced PARS interface, you will need to set a new password by clicking on “Can’t Log In or Forgot Your Password?” link under the “Log In” button before you’ll be able to access the system. The Enhanced PARS Quick Start Guide will help you get started using the enhanced functionality in PARS. For State Medical Society Accredited Providers, click here.
Year-end reporting consists of 3 elements:
- Entering all your CME activities for the year into PARS and ensure they are “closed.” See What data are providers required to enter into PARS? for more information about “open” and “closed” activities.
- Completing the required information on the Program Summary tab. Be sure to click on the “Save Program Summary” button. For any fields that do not apply to your organization, enter a “0” in the field. Note: There must either be a “0” or an amount in each field in order to save your information.
- Attesting that your data is complete and ready for review.
Helpful Tips:
- Verify you are using the correct Reporting Year.
- All activities need to be “closed” prior to attestation.
- A Provider Activity ID is required for all activities included in a batch file upload or where an organization offers multiple activities in the same format on the same date.
- When reporting the number of physicians who completed an activity, residents are included as physician participants.
Additional Resources:
- PARS FAQs
- About PARS
- Batch upload your activities into PARS via the tab-delimited template. Click here for instructions on how to use the template
ANCC
In order for ANCC-accredited providers to avoid additional fees and/or suspension, activity data from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 must be reported in the Nursing Activity Reporting System (NARS) by April 1, 2018.
This is the first year that annual reporting must be completed exclusively via NARS. Submission of the CE Summary Form via e-mail is no longer acceptable. Here are some tools and tips for successful ANCC Annual Report completion:
- Required Reporting Information:
- Name and date of activity
- Target audience (RN’s, Interprofessional)
- Total number of activity participants and total number of RN’s
- Number of nursing credits/contact hours upon activity completion
- Whether the activity was directly or jointly provided
- If the activity received commercial support, and if so the amount
- Invoices:
- The Primary Accreditation program office will e-mail annual fee invoices directly
- Fees are dues within 30 days of invoice receipt
- Helpful Resources:
Note: Activities can be submitted individually through the web interface or through a batch upload using the Tab Delimited file.
For more information on annual reporting requirements, click here.
ACPE
There is no annual report required for ACPE.
CME in the News: By the Team, for the Team
The three collaborating accreditors in Joint Accreditation (ACCME, ACPE, ANCC) produced a report following the Join Accreditation Leadership Summit in 2016, By the Team for the Team: Evolving Interprofessional Continuing Education™ for Optimal Patient Care, the focus of which was the importance of IPCE (Interprofessional Continuing Education).
IPCE has been a hot topic among accreditation boards recently, and recently, an addendum to that initial report was released. The addendum is a follow up report that summarizes the 2017 Joint Accreditation Summit findings regarding IPCE: Promoting Research across the Continuum of Health Professions Education: Making Patient Care Better. It explores recommendations for furthering research for the effectiveness of IPCE in improving the performance of the healthcare team and, ultimately, patient care.
One highlight from the report was a focus on research recommendations by Scott Reeves, PhD, MSc, PGCE, BSc, Professor in Interprofessional Research at Kingston University and St. George’s University of London, and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Interprofessional Care, who offered recommendations for how to successfully conduct and publish research.
Two other highlights included the exploration of real-world examples of research projects that address health priorities such as rural population health, obesity prevention, advance care planning, and caring for underserved populations.
You can read the full report here, and the initial 2016 report here.
Alliance 2018: ACEHP Annual Conference: Booth 202
AOE is gearing up for the 2018 Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions (ACEHP) Annual Conference in Orlando, FL from January 20 – 23. We’re looking forward to participating in the wide variety of educational sessions to expand our expertise and engage with other CME/CE professionals.
Whether or not your organization will be attending the Alliance meeting, AOE would love to connect with you to learn more about your CME/CE program. If you’re attending the meeting, stop by our booth (#202) to say hello! Otherwise, reach out to us at inquire@aoeconsulting.com.
AOE’s services are tailored to your needs in three key areas:
• Accreditation/Re-Accreditation Support and Management: We work with organizations to map out accreditation/re-accreditation milestones, review CME/CE policies and procedures, review or develop Self-Study narrative and Performance-in-Practice files, set-up a mock interview and participate in the accreditation board interview.
• Outsourced CME/CE Coordination and Management: AOE serves as an extension of staff overseeing compliance management and/or engaging in the day-to-day tasks of CME coordination.
• Compliance Training to Ensure CME/CE Success: This includes AOE’s CME Bootcamp as well as customized CME/CE compliance trainings tailored to your organization.
Across all service areas, we’ve worked with a variety of organizations from medical societies and associations to medical education companies, hospitals and academic centers.
We look forward to sharing highlights from the 2018 Alliance Annual Conference in our next newsletter. Until then, follow us on Twitter @AOE_Consulting, on Facebook or on Instagram @aoeconsulting to get our latest updates including live posts from #Alliance2018!
- Alliance 2018 Annual Conference
January 20-23, 2018, Orlando, FL
Read More >> - PTAP Introductory Workshop
January 25, 2018, Silver Spring, MD
Read More >> - ANCC Primary Accreditation New Applicant Workshop
April 3, 2018, Silver Spring, MD
Read More >> - ACCME 2018 Meeting: Building an Educational Home Together
April 17-19, 2018, Chicago, IL
Read More >> - 2018 SACME Annual Conference
April 25-28, 2018, San Antonio, TX
Read More >>
