Guidelines for CME Activities with the College

The following are guidelines for organizing a meeting under the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) national office’s accreditation. These guidelines are consistent with ACCME regulations and are designed to ensure compliance and help facilitate this function. The Department of Continuing Professional Development will oversee the ACCME compliance process and assist you in the following activities. For further information please refer to the ACCME website.

Promotional Materials

All printed materials or online materials (ie, preliminary or final program, exhibitors’ prospectus, syllabus, signs acknowledging commercial supporters on-site, or information you wish to put on a website or the internet) must be reviewed in advance by the Department of Continuing Professional Development. Please be mindful that advertising of any type is prohibited within educational content of CME activities.

The College’s name must appear on the cover of all printed materials for the meeting as follows: Continuing medical education credit is provided through joint providership with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

All credit statements must be included in your final program and must be located before the educational content.

The following statements must be included exactly as shown:

Learning Objectives

Learning objectives should be included in all promotional materials. Learning objectives must be included in the final program and must be located before the educational content. A few general learning objectives for your entire program will help potential registrants understand what the program has to offer.

Disclosure Statement

ACCME requires that all faculty and planning committee members participating in a jointly provided program disclose any financial interests relative to topics to be discussed at the program. This information will be obtained through the College’s online disclosure system in advance by staff. There must be ample time for resolution of all potential conflicts of interest before the beginning of the CME program. This information (with resolution of any conflicts of interest) should be on file before honoraria are paid. In addition, verification of verbal disclosure must be documented. Please sign and return the Verification of Verbal Disclosure form to the College after the program has been completed.

Disclosure of Faculty and Industry Relationships

The following statement should be included in the final program:

In accordance with College policy, all faculty and planning committee members have signed a conflict of interest statement in which they have disclosed any financial interests or other relationships with industry relative to topics they will discuss at this program. At the beginning of the program, faculty members are required to disclose any such information to participants. Such disclosure allows you to evaluate better the objectivity of the information presented in lectures. Please report on your evaluation form any undisclosed conflict of interest you perceive.

Commercial Support

Commercial support, defined by the ACCME, is financial, or in-kind, contributions given by a commercial interest, which is used to pay all or part of the costs of a CME activity. However, funds from governmental entities are not considered commercial support. When commercial support is given to a program, the ACCME requires that a letter of agreement be issued between the accredited provider (the College) and each of the companies giving support. The College takes this requirement a step further and requires an additional signature from the non-accredited partner. All letters of agreement require three signatures. Therefore, upon confirmation of support, partners must completed and return a Commercial Support Information Sheet Form to the Department of Continuing Professional Development to enable preparation of the letter. Each letter of agreement is sent to the prospective companies for their representative’s signature. It is the responsibility of the nonaccredited partner to assist staff with acquiring the appropriate signatures. The nonaccredited partner should take responsibility for the integrity, content, and quality for their commercially supported CME activity. Commercial support must be acknowledged but educational materials that are part of a CME activity such as slides, abstracts, and handouts cannot contain any advertising, corporate logo, trade name, or a product-group message of an ACCME-defined commercial interest in order to comply with the Standards for Commercial Support. Because the College is responsible for tracking all contribution income, it is imperative that all commercial support be handled through the Department of Continuing Professional Development. The College must also maintain and be able to produce as documentation a full accounting of the funds.

Industry-Sponsored Sessions

In accordance with the ACCME’s police, there must be total separation from industry promotion and education. Therefore, these sessions should not take place anytime within the educational program schedule. These sessions should be either in the morning before or evening after the education. These sessions should not be included in the educational program schedule. Promotion for these sessions should be totally separate from the promotion of the education.

Exhibitors

The College is required to have on file a complete list of exhibitors that will be participating in your program. If exhibitors are included at your meeting, the exhibitor information sheet should be completed and forwarded to us. Exhibits and all commercial materials must be separate from the lecture hall. 

Presentations

The College must review all presentations before the start of all activities. Time should be allotted for staff to manage all potential or real conflicts of interest. Each presentation must include a disclosure slide and learning objectives.

Evaluation

As the accredited provider, the College is required to evaluate each activity it jointly provides. A final summary of the evaluations will be sent to you and other individuals involved in the process. Because this information is very valuable in providing feedback for future educational activities, your assistance in urging attendees to provide this information is helpful.

Surveys

As the accredited provider, the College is required to assess the effectiveness of its educational programs. A sample of the College's postmeeting survey will be included in the program approval packet of materials. Surveys must be sent to all attendees at least three months after the meeting and survey results must be returned to the College.

Verification of Attendance

As the accredited provider, the College must be able to verify attendance of each participant. Therefore, sign-in sheets should be posted and participants instructed to sign in daily. These sheets should be returned to the College.

Cognates

Members of the College may have their transcript updated through the Cognate Department. Please prepare an electronic file in Excel or text format with the list of those who are seeking cognates and return it to the Cognate Department. The list should contain the last name, first name, ACOG ID number, city, and state of those seeking cognates. If this list is not provided to the Cognate Department, then you must instruct ACOG members to submit their certificate of attendance to the College to be recorded. The College does not charge a fee for certificates of attendance.

Postmeeting Follow-Up

The following materials must be maintained on file at the College after the meeting (if applicable):

• Two copies of any promotional material for the meeting (flyers, exhibitors prospectus, preliminary program, internet listing)
• Three copies of the final printed program
• Two copies of the syllabus, if applicable
• The number of participants in attendance, broken down into physicians and nonphysicians (not including spouses, exhibitors, and other guests; only actual participants of the program)
• A report documenting a full accounting of the funds received from all commercial and in-kind support with copies of the checks
• Final program budget
• Signed verification of verbal disclosure form
• Registration list
• Sign-in sheets
• Completed evaluation summary
• Completed exhibitors list
• Copies of postmeeting surveys (sent at least three months after the meeting)

Upon completion of your meeting, please forward the above materials to the Department of Continuing Professional Development.