Determine activity goals and your target audience. If 2 or more professions are involved, consider applying as an interprofessional activity:

• Activity offers an opportunity to learn with and about each other (ex: through panel discussion, question and answer segments, etc)
• Activities are designed to change skills, strategy, team performance or patient outcomes

Form a planning committee that includes a representative from each target audience sector you wish to award credit to. All committee members and organizers need to declare any financial relationships with ineligible companies at the beginning of the planning process. If a planning member has a financial disclosure, be sure to complete the Disclosure Mitigation Form (PDF) as soon as possible to determine eligibility. Disclosure Mitigation Forms should be uploaded with your application. 

Document all meetings using the Planning Committee Minutes Form (PDF) to upload with your application.

Program objectives should be relevant to all members of the healthcare team, while also allowing for specialty-specific goals when appropriate. Clearly define what learners are expected to gain from the activity.

Clearly define why this training is relevant by describing the current state and the desired outcome. Identify the gap between what is happening now and what should ideally occur. Upload supporting documentation that demonstrates this gap.

Example: Infection rates among hospitalized patients have increased. Evidence shows that handwashing before and after entering a patient’s room reduces infection rates. Supporting documentation may include hospital infection rate data and peer-reviewed research on handwashing.

Ensure that all committee members and organizers disclose any financial relationships with ineligible companies at the start of the planning process. Refer to the Data Reporting FAQ's page through the ACCME for guidance on identifying ineligible companies. Disclosure forms are completed through Highmarks. If applicable, complete a Disclosure Mitigation Form (PDF) to assess eligibility to participate in planning the activity.

Enter all faculty speakers, moderators, and panel members in the application’s Leadership section. Once added, they will receive an email notification to complete their disclosure forms. Review all submitted disclosures to confirm they remain current through the start of the activity.

For Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS) applications and visual presentations, upload a completed disclosure form available on the resources page.

Consider sharing this Content Validity Overview (PDF) with your faculty and planning members

Ensure the Course Director completes the Course Director Attestation in Highmarks as part of the application process. Course Directors should have appropriate clinical expertise and must not have relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

All patient care recommendations must be based on current evidence and clinical reasoning, with a fair and balanced perspective of diagnostic or therapeutic options.

All scientific research referenced, reported, or used in justification of any patient care recommendations must conform to standards of experimental design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. 

Although accredited continuing education is an appropriate place to explore new and evolving topics, these areas must be clearly identified within any program activities. You must facilitate these topics without advocating for, or promoting practices that are not yet based on current scientific evidence and clinical reasoning. 

Content cannot be included if it advocates for unscientific methods to diagnose, treat, or promotes a manner of practicing healthcare that is determined to have risks that outweigh the potential benefits, or is known to be ineffective treatments. 

It is critical for the University of Vermont Office of Continuing Medical and Interprofessional Education to encourage discussion and educational offerings of sensitive, new, or evolving topics in medicine. Our Joint Accreditation Standards require that we ensure learning opportunities are fair and balanced, and that any presented clinical content supports safe, effective patient care. We recognize that topics that are new, sensitive, or evolving have the potential to be biased by polarized public policy debates and are an ongoing challenge.

If you are preparing learning activities covering such topics, we recommend sending the agenda to our team prior to application submission to help expedite the review process. We require a review of content validity for sensitive and novel topics, and when necessary, elicit input from local content experts. Without connecting with our team, there could be a delay or denial of providing credits.

For more information, please review the Accreditation Council’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education Guide.

Upload any marketing materials you plan to use. Materials referencing credits must be approved prior to distribution.

Please do not market an event as “credit pending”.

Any commercial support must have a letter of agreement signed by a CMIE representative prior to the activity start date. Please send the letter of agreement for approval to the CMIE Office, or complete the Support From Ineligible Companies Agreement form (PDF). 

You may share names or contact information if you have consent from participating learners. Please consider requesting release during the registration process with a clear and informed option to participate. 

Define how the program will measure success after the learning activity. Reflect on the program goals and identified gap, and determine how participants are expected to change their practice, collaboration, or skills as a result.
 

Distribute follow-up surveys to participants one month after the learning experience to assess outcomes.

Reminder: To receive credit or a certificate, learners must attest to their attendance within 30 days of the activity. Some programs may also require completion of a program evaluation.