ACCME Criterion 35 Update: Webinars, Internet Enduring Materials, M&M Conferences

Compliance with ACCME Criterion 35 is a challenge even for veteran CME directors, but understanding best practice principles behind compliance can simplify the process for programs of any size.

Is Your Organization Innovation-Ready? Take the Innovation Readiness Quiz

Let’s face it: educational tools are as diverse in range as CME topics, and can be just as challenging to match to the needs of your learner audience. Use a trendy but untested tech tool and you may end up adding layers of complexity to your program’s operations and little to the agility of your curriculum. The right innovation strategy, however, can easily transform your educational content into a powerful, immersive experience that not only engages but inspires your learners and exceeds ACCME criterion 35 standards.

Before assessing your compliance readiness, determine if your program has the necessary resources for meaningful innovation.

Before the innovation starts, your organization will need to be ready with the right infrastructure to maintain competitiveness in a demanding marketplace. Take this short quiz to determine what your program needs to stay ahead of the curve.

Ask yourself:

Does my organization use platform-based automation to limit the time and human resources spent on routine administration duties?

The right technology provider will allow you to delegate repetitive, time-consuming duties to a robust platform that eliminates the need for your personnel to handle routine data entry tasks like registrations and payment processing. When critical, repetitive tasks are automated, rapid innovation and growth won’t be hindered by administrative hiccups like registration backlog and data entry.

Do I have easy access to the data necessary to monitor and respond to my learners’ educational needs as they change?

Innovation without a data-driven purpose isn’t innovation; it’s vanity. If your learners don’t need a buzzworthy content tool, then they won’t use it regardless of its efficiency, and that means it isn’t the right fit for your organization (or ACCME standards). Use a data management system that wrangles your data for you and makes access to critical information a matter of a few clicks, not a few hours of archive-hunting.

Does your program possess the agile infrastructure necessary to meet the requirements of ACCME criterion 35 over time?

Can I quickly identify my learners’ knowledge gaps and weak points in my curriculum’s content?

This requires more than expert data management. Getting to actionable insights fast means having the ability to slice your data the way you want on-demand. An enterprise-grade learning management system (LMS) platform will enable you to transform your raw data instantly into enhanced data visualizations that allow you to easily plan an evidence-driven innovation strategy.

Are my data collection practices “clean” and all-inclusive?

You want your LMS to provide everything that you need to run your CME program efficiently, and there’s no reason to compromise on data management practices either. If you wouldn’t buy a car that required you to “guesstimate” how fast you’re going or how much gas is left in your tank, you shouldn’t accept an LMS that cannot give you a consistent, accurate read of your program’s educational impact across its entire timeline. Look for a real-time data analytics suite that pulls information directly from the LMS and does not require manual data entry.

Does my current LMS let me add, remove, or update innovative educational content easily?

It is one thing to plan to add a video, GIF, or live webinar to a curriculum component, and quite another to design, test, and implement it. Unfortunately, your learners in need of educational enrichment can’t really afford to wait for the web developer and your content team to build a supplementary portal to accommodate a new content tool. With an enterprise-grade LMS platform, innovation works as it was meant to: the creativity flows from you and your team and the tech side takes care of itself. An advanced LMS like EthosCE allows you to add multimedia content that engages users easily without building new platform add-ons to handle audio-visual components.

Don’t worry if you can’t respond with a resounding “Yes!” to all of the above questions. Read on to find out how you can speed up compliance readiness with a few clicks.

Is thinking about an innovation action plan a bit daunting? Learn how to address compliance process challenges with the right tech toolbox.

Criterion 35: Review Your Program’s Compliance Scorecard

Even if you feel like you’ve used up all of your creativity and innovation in just keeping your CME program running smoothly, you still initiate educational policies that are painless to implement and meet ACCME criterion 35 standards.

Here are some easy guidelines for you to use to develop an innovation roll-out plan.

Is this you?

We have a large archive of content and the tools to create new components as needed. Our data management platform gives us quick access to all of our program data and delivers granular insights on demand. We have a clear understanding of the needs of our learners and just need the tools to launch new programming.

Solution: Focus on innovative curriculum development with a full-featured medical LMS.

Or is this you?

We face some challenges in creating easy-to-understand data reports for stakeholders and are struggling to communicate our research findings, despite excellent data access. Our plan for curriculum development is solid and evidence-based, but difficult to share and translate from raw data.

Solution: Select an LMS platform that is built for rapid-data sharing and provides customizable report templates that cut down on communications lag.

The Results Are In: Here’s How to Transform Your CME Program—Painlessly

Think you’re “kind of” compliance ready? Find out for sure. Here’s a brief summary of the ACCME’s vision of innovation as presented in Criterion 35;

“The provider demonstrates creativity and innovation in the evolution of its CME program.”

What it means:

This criterion recognizes CME programs that offer demonstrable innovation in educational approach, program and curriculum design, methods of assessment, or use of technology. For an educational strategy or method to qualify as innovative it must be newly implemented by the CME provider and provide an original and more impactful or efficient way for the provider to fulfill its CME mission over time. The ACCME places a special emphasis on meeting the evolving needs of your learners—meaning that your innovation can’t just be a one-trick pony. It must be able to adapt as your learner audience diversifies and their needs become more complex.

3 Steps to a Future-Proof Programming

1. Review your program’s current alignment with Criterion 35 and identify enduring and structural barriers to compliance.

2. Learn how to select a CME concierge plan that supports rapid scale and sustainable innovation.

3. Find the right technology partner that inspires educational innovation by providing:

• Complete flexibility in designing educational activities.
• Full-spectrum data access across your program’s entire timeline.
• Seamless communications between departments and easy data alerts to ensure data transparency and evidence-driven policy making.
• Ongoing, unlimited technical support that allows you to focus on curriculum development, not onboarding.

At EthosCE, we empower CME directors with the administrative and curriculum development tools necessary to transform their program’s educational results through a single user-friendly platform. Combined with exceptional support, EthosCE empowers CME providers to meet and exceed Criterion 35 standards regardless of the age or size of their program. Connect with us for a 1-on-1 demo and see how simple exceptional CME can be.

EthosCE believes CME technology solutions should be designed to improve healthcare professionals’ user experience, comply with ACCME guidelines, reduce administrative costs, and demonstrate measurable outcomes.

To learn how EthosCE can enhance the continuing education of your medical professionals, request a free 1-on-1 demo with one of our specialists today.