Awarding Continuing Education Credits or Units
Manual Guide, General Administration, CDC-76, 4/15/92
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this guide is to establish uniform guidelines for continuing education activities sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure conformance with the standards of the accrediting organizations. This includes awarding:
- Continuing medical education credit/s (CME) to physicians in conformance with the certification by the American Council on Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). The number of CME is defined as the total number of learning hours. Fractions are to be rounded to the nearest hour.
- Continuing education unit/s (CEU) to course participants in conformance with the certification by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). The number of CEU is defined as the total number of whole learning hours divided by ten.
II. SCOPE
The policies and procedures in this guide will be followed for
CDC-sponsored or cosponsored training when CME or CEU are to be awarded by CDC. When CDC is cosponsoring training with another organization that is to award the CME or CEU, the sponsoring Center/Institute/Office (CIO) should follow the procedures of the cosponsor if it has been certified by the accrediting association.
III. POLICY
The CDC and its CIOs sponsoring training for which CME or CEU are awarded will develop, implement, and evaluate a continuing education program and related training that will conform to the agreements with the accrediting associations, ACCME and IACET.
Completion of the training will be properly documented so that participants may receive full credit by their professional and licensing organizations. Continuing education credits or units may be awarded as follows:
- CME may be awarded when the participant enrolls in a training course, conference, seminar, or other activities and completes the requirements. Actual participation is to be documented for granting the appropriate CME. For a conference or other activity in which participation in specific sessions is elective or variable, the number of CME to be awarded depends on the physician's cumulative hours of participation as documented by the session evaluations completed by the participant. Therefore, CME for each session should be listed on the agenda by the respective session.
- CEU may be awarded when the participant enrolls in a training course and completes the course requirements. CEU cannot be granted for participation in conferences and seminars. Actual participation is to be documented for granting the appropriate CEU. An individual may not be awarded both CEU and academic credit.
Emphasis will be placed on documentation of activities for further evaluations:
- To assure that relevant effective activities are being conducted.
- To assure target group physicians and others that appropriate and creditable activities are available.
- To provide guidance to CDC and CIO staff in the preparation of learning activities.
IV. RESPONSIBILITIES AND PROCEDURES
The successful implementation of this program will require CIO training sponsors working together through the Continuing Medical Education Committee, composed of CIO physician representatives, and the Public Health Practice Program Office (PHPPO).
A. Public Health Practice Program Office
The Public Health Practice Program Office will:
- Provide overall management and ongoing administrative support of the program.
- Assist the CIOs in program implementation, including development of training activities to meet the standards of the accrediting associations.
- Organize and provide administrative support to the CDC Continuing Medical Education Committee particularly during its review of proposed training for awarding CME.
- Review proposed training for awarding CEU to determine that IACET requirements are met.
- Notify the sponsoring CIO of the reviewers' determination as to the training proposals meeting the standards of the accrediting associations.
- Serve as the CDC primary contact with the ACCME and the IACET for establishing and maintaining CDC's accreditation and providing required reports.
- Assess the CDC implementation of the ACCME and IACET agreements.
- Prepare annual CDC-wide summaries of CME and CEU training, identifying by category for each CIO the number of activities sponsored, total number of participants, total number of physicians attending and those awarded CME or total number of participants awarded CEU, and total number of CME or CEU awarded.
- Evaluate the program to determine whether program goals and objectives are being met, program management and operations are effective, and educational activities are properly designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated.
B. Centers/Institute/Offices
CIOs sponsoring continuing educational activities for awarding CME or CEU will:
- Implement the overall program within the organization.
- Designate a staff physician to serve on the CDC Continuing Medical Education Committee rotating assignments as appropriate.
- Use the ACCME and IACET guidelines* to identify training needed; to plan, deliver, and evaluate the training; and to maintain records.
- Coordinate internal CIO approvals (policy, budget, etc.) for proposed training.
- Send to PHPPO a request (Form CDC 0.1160)* for approval of the proposed training (see Exhibit 1), allowing a minimum of 2 weeks for obtaining approval.
- Include required ACCME or IACET identification statements on proposed training materials (see Exhibit 2).
- Document and maintain records of CME or CEU activities, participants identification, and total number of CME or CEU awarded (see Exhibits 3 and 4).
- Provide participants a certification of the CME or CEU awarded (see Exhibit 3).
- Forward to PHPPO Administrative Support Unit (PASU), PHPPO statistical information on the participants and the CME or CEU awarded within 2 weeks after completion of the training activity (see Exhibit 3).
- Provide a transcript of an individual's training upon request of a previous CME or CEU awardee (see Exhibit 3).
- Evaluate each training activity sponsored.
- Assist in the evaluation of the continuing education program as requested.
C. CDC Continuing Medical Education Committee
The CDC Continuing Medical Education Committee, composed of physicians designated by CIOs sponsoring training to award CME, will assist in program implementation and evaluation. The major responsibility of the committee is to determine whether a proposed CME activity for physicians meets the requirements of the ACCME.
The committee representative from the CIO originating the proposal will coordinate the committee review upon receiving the CME proposal from PHPPO. Responsibilities include:
- Establish the review committee by selecting two other members from existing CIO representatives on the Continuing Medical Education Committee.
- Provide each of the review committee members with a copy of the proposal.
- Conduct meetings of the committee.
- Obtain any needed additional information for the review.
- Obtain committee conclusions.
- Keep appropriate minutes of the review.
- Notify PHPPO of the committee's determination and furnish PHPPO copies of the minutes.
References to CDC and to Center/Institute/Office also apply to ATSDR.