This is in many ways the most important time of the year for the IACME. We are gearing up for our annual conference, voting for new members of the Board of Directors, and nominating mentors and peers for the Pearson Award. This is the best time to get involved and contribute to the direction of the IACME, whether it is through voting for our future leaders, volunteering your time, or contributing as a participant in our Spring meeting. Register today! And don’t forget to vote!

 

As I enter my last month as President, I reflect on how grateful I am to have been a small part of watching the organization evolve with a new web-site and strategic plan this year, and to know I have been continually enriched through my interactions with fellow board and committee volunteers, as well as members who have contacted me throughout the year. I look forward to continuing my involvement with future volunteers and leaders of the organization – may your time be as rewarding as mine has surely been. I look forward to seeing you in May!

 

Brochures have been e-mailed and registration is open!!

Plan to be an active participant and don’t miss this great event. Advance Registration Deadline is May 13th.

Visit www.iacmeonline.org for more information or to register.

 

IACME Board of Directors is seeking 4 NEW candidates to fill board vacancies and we need YOU to vote!

This year there are 5 candidates that answered the Annual Call for Nominations to fill the 4 open Board positions. Candidates have been reviewed by the Nominating Committee and a biographical sketch for each is available for your review. Once you have reviewed the biographical sketches, we ask that you submit your electronic vote for the 4 candidates that you would like to see on the IACME Board via the IACME website at https://www.iacmeonline.org/voting-booth.

 

Members have until May 1, 2011, midnight CST to complete and submit the IACME Electronic Election Ballot. Election results will be announced during the Annual Business Meeting held in conjunction with the IACME Annual Educational Conference on May 20, 2011. Should you have questions email ilalliance@aol.com

Submit your nominee for this year’s Thomas G. Pearson, EdD, Distinguished Service Award. We are now accepting nominations for members who have shown exemplary contribution and outstanding service to the CME community. Deadline to submit a nomination is May 6th and the award will be presented at the IACME Annual Meeting on May 20, 2011. Nomination material may be found on the IACME website www.iacmeonline.org under the Members Services section or email ilalliance@aol.com for more information.

Do you have ideas on how to “Go Green CME!” Please e-mail ilalliance@aol.com or join the discussion on LinkedIn. Go to: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1903150&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

The cases are making a come back! This year, the newsletter will feature a series of articles focused on the accreditation/re-accreditation process. Whether you are state or nationally accredited, share your stories, help your CME colleagues learn and grow! Should you wish to submit an article/case, please e-mail ilalliance@aol.com. As has been the usual practice, follow up discussions will take place on IACME LinkedIn Page. To aid the process, please consider the following guiding questions.

 

• What steps did you take internally prior to starting the self-study/reaccreditation process in order to help your organization prepare for the reaccreditation process?

• If you have done a self study prior to this one, what are some of the major differences that you found in this self study? If this is your first self study, describe your impressions and thoughts on the process.

• What were some of the key challenges that you encountered in completing the self study and/or reaccreditation process. How did you deal with them?

• What are some of the lessons you learned that you would like to share with colleagues? Any recommendations?

• How far in advance did you start preparing for this? How much time did you spend compiling your self-study?

• Did anyone outside of your staff review your self-study? If so, what value (if any) did this add?

• If you achieved accreditation with commendation, what do you think made you successful?

• For the submission of activity files, did you utilize hard copy or go green and submit by PDF on a CD or flash drive? If you used PDF, what was your experience with this format? Preferred?

• If you had an interview by phone, did everyone call in separately or did you have physician leaders with you in the same location? If you did, do you feel this made a difference in how the interview went?

The Reaccreditation Process: a Hospital’s Perspective

(State Accredited CME Provider)

Steps in Preparation to the re-accreditation process:

Prior to starting the self study, CME staff set out to review and organize CME activity materials and program documents. This in depth review allowed “reliving” two and a half years worth of CME Program, so that it could be accurately reflected in the self study.

 

Differences from the previous self-study:

This was a second self study since provisional accreditation, and it resembled the initial one, except that the program volume has grown two and a half times. The second self study was also the first instance, where the State Medical Society mandated compliance with the Updated Accreditation Standards, further adding to the challenge.

Challenges and lessons learned:

Condensing the large volume of program information to fit into the self-study, and picking out specific aspects to be used where appropriate required creativity, thoroughness and dedication of the CME Staff. Perfecting CME Activity files was similarly demanding.

There probably isn’t such a thing as being too well prepared for the self-study and survey interview. Documentation is the essential component of the entire process, since all that is said in the self-study needs to be proven in practice at the time of the interview. More is better in this case; but accurate and to the point is just as important.

While there is a plenty of room for interpretation of the criteria, there are also best practices, proven to meet them, as evidenced by successful accreditation outcomes of providers that have completed the process. It is worthwhile to take time throughout the course of the accreditation period to network with peers and seek out those best practices, to make the best of the upcoming accreditation/reaccreditation process. All this helps the provider develop processes that surveyors question during the interview and in light of the self study.

It took a total of 3 months to prepare the self- study and complete the compilation of the requested CME Activity files. A State Medical Society Staff member reviewed the application prior to submission. Our process was conducted in person, and we had hard copies of everything. We were found compliant with all of the criteria, including criteria relevant to accreditation with commendation. However, the outcome resulted in a regular, 4 year accreditation status, as we were unable to document one criterion well enough.

Recommendations:

Therefore, colleagues, - document, document, document! I cannot emphasize it enough!

We invite you to take the time to answer one or all of these questions for yourself or on the IACME LinkedIn Discussion group, http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1903150.

This case will be posted as a fresh discussion for you to join.