New Must Read AMA Guidelines for CME Technology

Updates to the AMA guidelines for CME technology have placed a greater emphasis on educational impact and evidence-based strategy. As a CE director, it is critical to learn how to match purpose-driven CME technology with specific learner outcome goals. In this post, we’ll show you how to identify the context-appropriate technology that is essential to following AMA guidelines and continuing ACCME compliance while steadily improving learner outcomes.

Whose Tech Is It Anyway? How to Select Tech Tools That Work for Your Unique CME Needs

As you consider expanding your CME program’s tech resources you might easily become distracted by the seemingly endless array of products which may or may not work for your learners’ specific needs. That’s why it is critical to focus on end-user value for each technical element that you add to your CME program. The right learning management system will pull all of the tech features that you need to achieve your educational outcome goals into a single, user-friendly platform. Before you upgrade your LMS or choose a new one, it is wise to

take an inventory of your existing tech resources to create an accurate tally of your needs. Use this quick quiz to evaluate your program’s current technical resource gaps:

1. Can I adjust the intensity of my learners’ curriculum content easily when new data insights suggest the subject matter should be taught at a more relaxed pace? If not, you should consider an LMS that allows you to remove or add content with a few clicks when analytics indicate learners would benefit from a new approach. Look for an LMS that offers easily customizable content.

2. Is it simple to add components like video, animation, or live streams to challenging material that requires immersive learning? Your LMS should offer you the freedom to innovate at will. Responding to the changing educational needs of your learners should be effortless. Require your new or upgraded LMS to offer features that enhance content with captivating educational tools that work seamlessly with your existing AMS platform or tools.

3. Am I able to easily review and slice learner assessment insights on-demand and share them with my team in minutes? While data management quality assurance may not seem like a topic that is at the heart of innovation, data-driven insights will be the fuel for your most creative and impactful educational ideas.

When it is easy to get to your data quickly, it is simple to create innovative educational experiences that provide enduring value for your learners.

4. Can I limit administrative duties that lead to productivity drain by delegating repetitive tasks to digital automation?

An enterprise-grade LMS will streamline time-intensive administrative tasks by allowing you to automatically schedule and manage duties like emails, user registration, payment processing, and staff alerts through a single admin platform. This allows you and your team to focus exclusively on content innovation and customer service.

5. Is ACCME and AMA compliance management a burden or a headache-free automated process? When reviewing your ability to comply with AMA and ACCME innovation compliance standards, it is important to have a system in place that supports overall compliance as an on-going process.

Compliance-awareness should be a part of the design process of every activity and a deciding factor in your technology acquisition choices.

That means your AMS-integrated LMS should help you monitor your standards alignment status across your entire program while allowing you to easily implement compliance solutions as needed.

Pro Tip:

Develop an action plan to find tech tools that add demonstrable value in four areas: administration, curriculum design, learner assessment, and compliance management.

If It’s Not Broken, Make It Better: Understanding the AMA Guidelines on CME Tech

As a CE, your responsibility is to maintain compliance and ensure each learner receives the best possible educational experience, regardless of the technical challenges your organization faces in CME delivery. Even if you have an LMS that provides an adequate technical infrastructure for your needs, you’ll want to ensure that your program can adapt to the changing requirements of your learners as your audience grows and diversifies. Here is a short summary of the aligned ACCME and AMA perspective on the use of technology in CME:

1. Any technology employed in CME, from AI to gamification components in CME content, should be used to provide demonstrable benefits to patients, physicians, and the broader healthcare community. This indicates that technology use should be exclusively purpose-driven, designed to enhance the development of specific physician attributes or professional competencies through more accessible CME content.

2. CME technology should empower physicians to improve the assessment, understanding, and application of data to improve patient outcomes. This means that when tackling complex and critical CME topics, content delivery should be efficient, immersive, and customizable to the needs of the learner.

3. The AMA and ACCME want to encourage innovative approaches to education that improve CME content usability, help CME providers better match educational tools to context, improve learner assessment, and support enduring educational value for learners.

Finding the Right Tech Partner for CME Innovation

Creating a hodge-podge of tech tools and platforms is inefficient and provides uncertain outcomes.

You don’t want technology that doesn’t bring lasting value to your learners. Selecting the right LMS is the best way to access the technical tools that you need to accelerate your progress in fulfilling your CME mission. An enterprise-grade LMS will provide integrated technology and impact assessment through a single platform, streamlining compliance processes regardless of how quickly a program grows.

EthosCE provides outstanding support for every aspect of CME development, making innovation easy. With EthosCE, it is simple to monitor the impact of innovation with an enterprise-grade analytics suite that permits CE directors to quickly share findings across the entire organization. Most importantly, EthosCE provides the technical capabilities, from painless video integration to granular, real-time data insight access to learner outcome results, which allow you to provide the best possible educational experience to your learners.

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!