Continuing Medical Education (CME) Committee

alt

Margaret Tuttle, MD
Chair

June 2023 CME Committee Report 

The Continuing Medical Education Committee continues to review and approve CME programs.  After many, many years as chair of the CME Committee, Dr. David Osser has chosen to step down.  However, he will still remain on the committee.  Dr. Margaret Tuttle has shifted from co-chair to chair, and Dr. John Renner has assumed the co-chair role. 

MPS recently went through its reaccreditation over the past few months with submission of a self-study review of our accreditation program and interview with MMS accreditors.  A decision on our recredentialing will be made on or before June 21, 2023, when our current term expires.  

Since the last Chairs and Council meeting, we reviewed and approved the 33rd Annual Psychopharmacology Update which was held on Saturday, November 5 and had 164 attendees, as well as the Annual Risk Avoidance & Risk Management conference which was held on Saturday, March 11 and had 184 attendees.  In addition, we also held for the first time, Psychiatry for the Primary Care Physician on Saturday, April 29.  This conference gathered 81 attendees including psychiatrists, primary care physicians, and other allied health professionals.  All requests for CME for the fall months must be received by June 20 for review at the June 26 meeting and requests for programs to be held in the winter months, planning requests must be submitted by October 30 for the CME committee meeting scheduled for November 6.  Please do note that all requests for CME programming that is not one of our approved annual programs must be shared with Debbie Brennan and leadership prior to detailed planning for review and approval to ensure we have the allocated resources and of course prepare our budget with additional programming requests in mind.

History
The MPS CME program was started in the late 1990s and has continued to evolve since then.  The MPS is a self-accredited organization who receives our accreditation through the Massachusetts Medical Society.  Our CME program has always focused on our psychiatric membership and strives to meet the educational needs of our members.  We survey our participants to identify the needs of our target audience.  In 2012, we expanded our CME offerings with internet activities that have been very well received by our members who appreciate the opportunity to access them as their schedules permit.  In 2017 the MPS was awarded reaccreditation with commendation.

Continuing Medical Education (CME) Mission Statement
MPS members are physicians who are committed to providing outstanding medical/psychiatric care through accurate diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of mental health and emotional illnesses. We seek to achieve this goal by promoting public and professional education, legislation that addresses the needs and rights of the mentally and emotionally ill, and by advocating for the allocation of public and private resources for treatment, research, and education. We provide a supportive and informative professional community for our members.

The MPS believes that life-long learning is a critical element of continuous improvement in psychiatric practice. The MPS is therefore committed to providing outstanding continuing medical education activities, responsive to the needs of our members.  To this end we offer learning opportunities that will:

  • Maintain and expand the knowledge and skills of the membership
  • Promote clinical excellence in psychiatry
  • Promote the delivery of cost effective healthcare
  • Challenge members to critically examine evidence based practice methodologies and research
  • Promote change and personal development for physicians
  • Address specific clinical, risk management and ethical problems encountered by psychiatrists in a range of specialty and practice settings


Type of Activities
Educational activities will be varied and consist of lectures, workshops, and interactive settings such as panel discussions, role-play, and case scenarios. Increasingly MPS will employ technology and other media to extend the mode of educational activities available to the membership. We also aim to keep our members abreast of developments affecting the overall organization and delivery of health care services to patients in MA, and provide a network for improving advocacy on key legislative matters affecting, for example, prescribing & formulary developments, managed care, and statewide service provision. Opportunities for sponsoring educational activities linking psychiatric practice to the wider field of medicine are also emerging, and we will embrace links with other medical specialties such as Primary Care and Neurology, according to our members’ needs.

Expected Results
Our expected outcome is that the educational activities sponsored by the MPS will change physician competence, performance or patient outcomes and will assist members to maintain the highest standards of clinical psychiatry, by application of their personal development to their own patient caseload or field of practice. We expect our program to impact positively and directly upon:

  • Health outcomes for patients
  • Clinical standards of psychiatric practice
  • Standards of care delivered in conjunction with other clinical specialties
  • Risk management
  • Members’ personal abilities, skills and professional achievements as physicians


AMA’s Definition of CME
Continuing Medical Education (CME) - The educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession. The content of CME is the body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, the discipline of clinical medicine, and the provision of health care to the public.

ACCME CME Content: Definition and Examples
Continuing medical education consists of educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession. The content of CME is that body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, the discipline of clinical medicine, and the provision of health care to the public.

ACCME Note:
The ACCME definition of CME is broad, to encompass continuing educational activities that assist physicians in carrying out their professional responsibilities more effectively and efficiently. Examples of topics that are included in the ACCME definition of CME content include:

  • Management, for physicians responsible for managing a health care facility
  • Educational methodology, for physicians teaching in a medical school
  • Practice management, for physicians interested in providing better service to patients
  • Coding and reimbursement in a medical practice


When physicians participate in continuing education activities that are not directly related to their professional work, these do not fall within the ACCME definition of CME content. Although they may be worthwhile for physicians, continuing education activities related to a physician's nonprofessional educational needs or interests, such as personal financial planning or appreciation of literature or music, are not considered CME content by the ACCME.

Definition of Risk Management
The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine defines risk management study as follows – It must include instruction in medical malpractice prevention, such as risk identification, patient safety and loss prevention, and may include instruction in any of the following areas:

  • medical ethics
  • quality assurance
  • medical-legal issues
  • patient relations
  • participation on peer review committees
  • utilization review that directly relates to quality assurance
  • non-economic aspects of practice management