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.

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

International Society for Medical Publication Professionals

Have you heard of International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) ? That's pronounced "Iz-Map"

They are having their 5th annual meeting in Philly. If you want to learn more about medical publishing and wish to network with others in this industry, then this might be a worthwhile meeting to attend. The ISMPP also offers distance learning via webinars through the ISMPP University for those who wish to learn more about the medical publishing industry.

The theme this year is: Defining Professionalism in Medical Publications: Transparency, Objectivity, and Ethics

The ISMPP also offers a certification program for those who wish to be a Certified Medical Publication Professional (CMPP). I wonder if that's where those in the CME industry came up with the Certified CME Professional (CCMEP).