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.

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™).