To CME or not to CME - that is the question

The other day, I was speaking with a physician about job opportunities in the CME (continuing medical education) industry. There are fewer jobs in CME compared to 5 or even 3 years ago. Why?

Last year, quite a few medical education companies got out of the CME industry. Some of them simply closed doors and went out of business while others shifted their focus to non-certified education (such as promotional education, consumer health education, etc.).

I know many physicians currently working in the CME industry. They are "CME professionals" and some even have the designation of being a "Certified CME Professional" or CCMEP. 

The CME community is getting smaller each year, so that has its share of advantages and disadvantages. CME will never go away, but the traditional model of industry-supported CME is evolving and it's hard to know what CME will look like in 10 years. The AMA has been pushing for point-of-care (POC) CME and also performance improvement (PI) CME. These are very different from your traditional didactic lectures or clinical case exercises.

I still enjoy the challenges associated with the CME industry, so that's one of the main reasons why I continue to stay in the CME industry. I also have the opportunity to leverage technology to improve education and I find it fascinating to stay current on the latest clinical developments in the world of biomedical research and clinical science. If you enjoy the science of medicine but you're thinking about leaving the world of clinical medicine, the CME industry could be a right fit. However, it's also important to stay adaptable in this ever-changing environment of CME.

Writing a CME "needs assessments"

Have you ever written an educational needs assessment for a hospital, a medical education company, or a medical specialty society? In the world of certified continuing medical education or CME, the educational needs assessment is a critical component that is used to justify the need for continuing education on specific topics. Certified CME has to begin with a set of identified educational needs that are based on clinical gaps and root causes. After all, what good is CME if it doesn't address relevant practice gaps?

So, why are we talking about CME needs assessments?  Medical education companies often look for physicians and other writers to assist them with the needs assessment process. For instance, if a company wishes to propose an educational initiative on the topic of new biologic agents used in oncology, they need to come up with a specific needs assessment that identifies clinical gaps that can be bridged with continuing education. You need to generate a proposed list of learning objectives, a program agenda, and a list of references to support your gap analysis. How many different sources of information can you leverage to support the need to educate health care professionals about this topic?


To learn more about non-clinical opportunities in the world of CME, click here to view a list of blog posts related to the topic of "CME."

Attending the Alliance for CME meeting today #ACME2010

Today, I'm in New Orleans attending the annual Alliance for CME meeting. You can read more about the meeting here:

Preparing to attend the Alliance for CME meeting in New Orleans #ACME2010

Anyone who has a strong interest in developing a robust career in the world of certified CME (continuing medical education) should attend the Alliance for CME meeting. I'm eager to reconnect with colleagues and discuss all the recent proposed changes pertaining to the CME industry.

If you're following me (@DrJosephKim) on Twitter, you can follow this hashtag #ACME10 to keep up with all that's going on here in New Orleans. If you're attending the Alliance for CME meeting this year, swing by the NAAMECC (North American Association of Medical Education and Communication Companies, Inc.,) booth and say hello.

Careers in CME (continuing medical education)

CME = continuing medical education

The world of professional medical education continues to evolve and I've recently had some nice opportunities to share my personal experiences in the CME industry. If you're interested in exploring career options in the world of CME, do you know where to begin?

Let's start with medical writing. That's an easy place to start since writers often come from medical and scientific backgrounds (either as an MD, PharmD, PhD, etc.). Here are some organizations/groups/resources you'll want to research:

NAAMECC

How about a list of companies so that you can start your research? One nice place to get a list is the North American Association of Medical Education and Communication Companies, Inc., (NAAMECC). NAAMECC is a professional association dedicated to providing representation, advocacy, and education for its members. To see a list of member companies, click here.

ACCME

We can't forget about the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). If you want to work in CME, you need to be familiar with the rules and regulations that govern the CME industry. The ACCME's Mission is the identification, development, and promotion of standards for quality continuing medical education (CME) utilized by physicians in their maintenance of competence and incorporation of new knowledge to improve quality medical care for patients and their communities. http://www.accme.org

The ACCME maintains a list of CME providers (which includes universities, societies, and private education companies). You can find that list here. You can sort alphabetically, by state, etc. Keep in mind that

AMWA

AMWA (American Medical Writers Association) is another great resource. Join and get listed in the Freelance Directory. Attend social and educational meetings related to regional chapters. http://www.amwa.org

NASW

The National Association of Science Writers (NASW) is another great resource for medical writers. http://www.nasw.org

The HittList

Emma Hitt, PhD, maintains a weekly newsletter of medical writing jobs. Subscribe to her free newsletter here. I've used it to find freelance medical writers, so I know it works.

The Alliance for CME

The Alliance for CME is an organization that pulls together CME professionals from different settings such as medical universities, professional medical societies and associations, private medical education/communication companies, and others. They hold an annual meeting each January and I'm always there for those meetings. To learn more about the Alliance, visit: http://www.acme-assn.org

NC-CME

If you want to get serious about CME, then become a certified CME professional or CCMEP. The National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals, Inc. (NC-CME) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 by an independent group of peers within the CME community for the purpose of establishing a definitive certification program for CME Professionals. http://www.nccme.org

AMA

The AMA holds a national meeting in October called the "National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration." This is a great place to learn about the CME industry and to meet others who work in medical education.

LinkedIn

There are several great LinkedIn groups that I would highly recommend. They are:

• Continuing Medical Education
• Continuing Medical Education Buzz Group
• Professional Medical / Scientific Writers
• Medical Writing and Affairs Association
• Biotech & Pharma Professionals Network

Company Directories

Here are a few lists (some are outdated) of CME providers that include some private medical education companies:

• Directory on NAAMECC
• Directory on meetingsnet.com
• Directory on cpe-tracker.com
• Directory on vendors.pharma-mkting.com

Don't be surprised if many of the private CME companies no longer exist. Several closed in 2008 and even more closed in 2009.

So, should you get involved in the CME industry? What better way to answer that question than to speak with a CME professional? I invite you to contact me if you're interested in chatting more about this industry.

CME professionals are moving out of CME

Well, maybe the actual jobs aren't shifting. People are definitely moving around. Over the past year, I've seen many CME (continuing medical education) companies shut down. Some people may refer to these companies as medical education and communication companies or MECCs. However, the word "communication" can be misleading because promotional educational companies may also be considered MECCs. Promotional education is very different from certified continuing medical education.

This year, I've seen many CME professionals move out of CME and transition into other industries. Times are difficult for those working in the CME industry. To be quite candid: it's difficult not to feel some level of discouragement about the overall CME industry.

Now, when I'm referring to the CME industry, I'm specifically speaking about industry-supported CME. Hospitals and other professional organizations will always provide CME to their physicians. However, if you're looking for free CME on the web, as print, as a teleconference, symposium, webinar, etc. - then you may see less industry-supported CME in the future.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are making significant changes in the way they fund CME activities. The increased scrutiny has changed the landscape. However, I feel that many of these changes are good changes and they will eventually improve the overall CME industry.

2009 was a difficult year for many CME companies. Those who weathered the storm may see some increasing opportunities in 2010 if they position themselves strategically. Others may continue to struggle in 2010 as industry supporters commit fewer dollars to certified continuing medical education.

Medscape is looking for a CME Scientific Director

If you have experience working in medical communications or medical education, then you may be interested in this job post. Medscape (one of the professional arms of WebMD) is looking for a Scientific Director to work on educational grant development. The world of certified continuing medical education (CME) is going through some significant changes these days and it's difficult to predict how CME will evolve over the next few years.

One of the most challenging aspects of generating a grant for CME is the needs assessment. If you're going to propose an educational activity on a specific topic, you have to prove that there's an educational gap that needs to be met with continuing education. Depending on the therapeutic area, it may be very challenging to identify such gaps. Then again, if you're an experienced CME grant writer, you already know that.

AMA - National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration

The CME (continuing medical education) industry has its own set of rules and regulations that are governed primarily by the ACCME (Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education). How well do you know those rules? To learn more about the CME industry, you can attend some national meetings. There are many different conferences regarding the CME industry, but I generally attend two of them (I like to limit my travel).

• The first one is the AMA - National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration. This meeting is in October and tends to stay in the Baltimore region.
  
• The second meeting is the Alliance for CME Annual Conference. This meeting is in January (this year, in New Orleans)
  

This year, AMA - National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration will be in Baltimore, so it's not that far for all those living in the northeast:

Mark your calendars to attend the 20th Annual Conference of the National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration, "Learning From the Past; Planning for the Future", to be held Oct. 14-16, 2009 in Baltimore! This conference will provide the opportunity to network and participate in dynamic sessions with leading industry experts.

For more information about AMA Task Force conference, read the program brochure.
I hope to see you in Baltimore next month.

Promotional medical education vs. certified CME

It's important to distinguish certified continuing medical education (CME) vs. promotional medical education (sorry, no acronym for this one). The phrase "med ed" is often used in the world of biotech/pharma to refer to both. Hence, it gets to be very confusing when you're talking about medical education.

To add to the confusion, the phrase "continuing medical education" is also thrown around for both certified CME and promotional med ed. This trend is changing among professionals who work in this industry. In fact, we now have CME professionals who are receiving a certification as a "certified CME professional" or CCMEP. Who offers this certification? The National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals, Inc. (NC-CME) began designating qualified individuals last summer.

So what's the difference between CME vs. promotional medical education? This list could be very long, but let me try to keep this succinct:

Credit and certificates:

• Certified CME must be reviewed and approved by a certifying body (often referred to as a credit provider approved by the ACCME). Such certifying bodies may include medical universities, professional medical societies/associations, private companies/institutions, etc.
  
• With certified CME activities, you'll receive a "certificate" for the type of credit that applies to you (such as AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™). You won't be getting any certificates for promotional activities.
  
• Certified CME can be used towards medical licensure renewal. For instance, the state of Pennsylvania requires 100 hrs of CME credits each year.
  

Off-label use:

• Promotional medical education is regulated by the FDA. Promotional activities generally refer to traditional "dinner meetings" and other types of industry-supported educational events that are not CME-certified. You may have seen some e-detailing programs on the Internet. Don't get these confused with CME-certified activities. You'll learn about new drugs/therapies based on FDA-approved uses. You won't be hearing about any off-label use of drugs.
  
• In the world of certified CME, you may learn about off-label use (as long as it's evidence-based). However, CME is never meant to be a form of off-label promotion.
  

Bias and promotion:

• Certified CME is designed to be evidence-based and fair-balanced. Whether it's industry supported or not industry supported, CME should not have any bias.
• Promotional education often tends to also be evidence-based, but it may not always reflect peer-reviewed evidence. In other words, there are many clinical studies that never get published in any type of peer-reviewed journal. Such proprietary data may only reside within a pharmaceutical company and it may get shared at dinner meetings.
  

I could go on, but since it's getting late now, I'm going to stop here and write more tomorrow. The bottom line is that it's critical to differentiate whether medical education is "certified CME" vs. anything else.

CCMEP: Certified CME Professional

There are unique acronyms in every industry. The health information technology (Health IT, HIT, HITECH) industry is full of strange and convoluted acronyms. The world of certified medical education also has its share of acronyms and I wish to outline a few here.

• CCMEP: Certified CME Professional. It seems like everyone wants to have some level of certification. Who provides this certification?
  
• NC-CME: National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals, Inc.
• CME: Continuing Medical Education
• CNE: Continuing Nursing Education
• CPE: Continuing Pharmacy Education or Continuing Professional Education
• CPD: Continuing Professional Development
• CPPD: Continuing Physician Professional Development or Continuing Pharmacy Professional Development
• CE: Continuing Education

Jobs in CME

While some companies that focus solely on certified medical education (or CME/CE) are losing people and down-sizing, others are hiring, either to replace people or because they are growing. I've been seeing a variety of job posts on LinkedIn and other sites. Simultaneously, I'm getting contacted by more and more candidates who are looking for opportunities.

The CME industry is going through some major changes and some companies (also known as MECCs or Medical Education and Communication Companies) that have been around for almost 20 years are choosing to leave the world of CME to pursue opportunities in the non-CME side of medical education. Others are simply shutting their doors and closing.

This is not the most opportune time to enter into a career as a CME professional. If you'd like to learn more about what it means to be a CME professional, take a look at the National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals, Inc. (NC-CME). There, you'll find a list of people who are recognized as Certified CME Professionals (CCMEPs™).