Fairfax, VA – Following an October 12, Chicago meeting of officials from the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), ASCRS called for the formal review and revision of implementation guidance documents for ACCME’s Updated Standards for Commercial Support (Standards).

“Our meeting with ACCME Executive Director Murray Kopelow, MD was productive and clarified the intent behind the recently Updated Standards,” said Laura Johnson, ASCRS Director of Education. “We discussed what we viewed as contradictions between the current guidance documents and their intent, and hope that those discussions will lead to written clarification of the guidance documents for implementing the Standards,” she added.

The Updated Standards are the rules medical societies and other continuing medical education (CME) providers must follow for dealing with potential and real conflicts of interest in CME programs and activities. The implementation guidance documents are “Identifying and Resolving Conflicts of Interest in Continuing Medical Education, Implementing the 2004 Updated ACCME Standards for Commercial Support” and a FAQ. ASCRS and numerous other medical societies are concerned because the guidance requires censorship and other measures for dealing with potential conflicts of interest, which would undermine the value of CME programs. “In its current form, the implementation guidance is unworkable,” said Johnson.

The Updated Standards were reviewed and approved by the medical societies and other entities that are member organizations of the ACCME. However, the guidance documents were not reviewed or approved by them.

There are seven member organizations of the ACCME. The Accreditation Council consists of representatives of these organizations, and also includes a federal government representative and a public representative: The American Board of Medical Specialties, The American Hospital Association, The American Medical Association, The Association for Hospital Medical Education, The Association of American Medical Colleges, The Council of Medical Specialty Societies, and The Federation of State Medical Boards of the U.S.

“In our discussions with Dr. Kopelow, we learned that the methods ASCRS follows were already in compliance with the Updated Standards for dealing with conflicts of interest - full disclosure of financial interests and balance through discussing a variety of therapeutic/surgical options - are acceptable to the ACCME. However our program development process is not universal, and it may not be appropriate for other providers,” Johnson said.

“During our meeting, Dr. Kopelow agreed to hold an audio conference to clarify some of the apparent contradictions and vagaries of the implementation guidance. ASCRS takes the position that written amendments are necessary to assure that all elements of the CME community can have a common understanding of what is expected of them in dealing with conflict of interest and bias issues,” Johnson said.

“ASCRS, as all responsible CME providers, has the goal of providing medical education programs that serve the best interests of patients and advance science. Developing rules to govern how conflicts of interest are dealt with must be done in a transparent manner and include robust debate. Having the broader CME community, through ACCME’s member organizations, actively engaged in the debate of the most important details of how conflicts are managed will result in rules that work in the real world and have broad CME community acceptance and understanding. Therefore, ASCRS believes the final written implementation documents must be vetted and approved by the ACCME’s member organizations,” Johnson concluded.

ACCME Updated Standards for Commercial support link:
http://www.accme.org/incoming/182_SCS_1_April_2004_SCS%20_approved.pdf

Identifying and Resolving Conflicts of Interest in Continuing Medical Education Implementing the 2004 Updated ACCME Standards for Commercial Support link: http://www.accme.org/incoming/184_SCS_3_Identifying_Resolving_COIs.pdf