Saving Certified Continuing Medical Education (CME)

Adding to the issues of medical insurance, availability of healthcare and physician reimbursement, actions are in motion by the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) and proponents to eliminate commercial support of certified CME. Certified CME is part of a system which ensures that new information is communicated to physicians so that they may be as current as possible and maintain licensure to practice medicine. Proponents indicate that their efforts are due to the possibility for bias and other potential conflicts of interest in commercially-supported CME; however, a review of literature commissioned by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) which accredits providers of CME found 'no evidence to support or refute the assertion that support biases CME'. In a recent poll 92% of the consumers of the CME system, physicians, disagreed with the Committee's call to end commercial support of CME. Industry sources currently account for over a billion dollars of financial aid to the CME system every year. Withdrawing this financial aid would likely overwhelm what system remains and fill the subsequent vacuum with a dramatic increase in promotional activities and Direct-to-Consumer advertising.