Process & Requirements: Live Activity

A live activity is an activity that occurs at a specific time. Participation may be in person or remotely as is the case of teleconferences or live internet webinars. Live activities may be offered through a variety of delivery mechanisms, examples include national, regional or local conferences, workshops, seminars, simulation workshops, and live internet webinars.

CME activities sponsored by the UC San Diego School of Medicine are meant to foster the continuing professional development of physicians and other health care professionals. CME activities must address educational needs defined by at least one professional practice gap (the difference between current practice and optimal practice) with the intent of changing physician competence, performance and/or patient outcomes (as opposed to merely increasing knowledge). Effective design of a CME activity requires understanding of the professional practice gaps which need to be addressed, specific measurable learning objectives to bridge the gaps and meaningful evaluation to demonstrate the resulting practice improvements.

The planning cycle for all CME activities always begins with the educational planning process.

The majority of the accreditation application is focused on the educational planning process findings. We encourage you to use the Educational Planning Tool as a guide to perform the gap analysis/needs assessment and subsequent layers of program planning. It will allow you to walk through the steps involved and adequately prepare for the application submission process.

The CME activity application is the mechanism used to apply for CME credit and is required for all activities. UC San Diego CME utilizes a web-based system for the management of accreditation applications and associated data. The platform enables a streamlined process for application submission, committee review, reporting, and follow-up data submission.

The application is due 60 days prior to the start of the activity and is available online.

Application Submission
The following information is required along with the application:

• Program agenda with times and titles of talks
• Faculty list
  
• Activity Budget
  
• Conflict of Interest Disclosures for the course director(s) and planning staff/committee. All persons involved in the planning of a CME activity (including course directors, planners, speakers, staff, and committee members)must provide conflict of interest disclosure information. Disclosures are due from course directors, planners and committee members along with the application. Disclosures from other speakers and staff participating in the activity may be submitted at a later date (but no later than 4 weeks prior to the activity).
  

HighMarks allows for completion and updating of disclosure information online at any time.For administrator access, please contact our office at cmeaccred@health.ucsd.edu.

Application Review and Approval
The application review process may take 10-30 days to complete, depending on the completeness of the application submitted. Note that applications are not forwarded to the CME advisory committee for review until all application materials are provided, including the disclosures for course director(s) and planning committee members/staff. If this is a repeat activity, all follow-up documentation from the previous year must be on file with our office before we can approve your application for the following year.

Approvals are sent via email to the course director and coordinator listed on the accreditation application along with information about processes and documentation requirements. Please make sure that you use the templates and tools provided to you to ensure compliance with accreditation requirements.

All approvals are tentative until all the required documentation is received throughout the planning cycle and post-activity. Failure to submit the required documentation may result in withdrawal of credit designation for the activity.

Throughout the planning cycle and prior to the date of the activity, a variety of requirements exist and documentation must be submitted to the CME office for review and approval.

Marketing Materials (Website, Printed Advertising, Email Marketing)
UC San Diego CME must approve all marketing materials prior to printing and/or distribution. Please allow a minimum of three business days for review and ample time for any edits/revisions to be made. Please refer to the Requirements for Brochures and Websites document  available on our website for required information.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures
Disclosures from all persons involved in the planning and participation of the activity must be submitted no later than four weeks prior to the start of the activity. Our online disclosure database must be used for this process. Note that this timeline is required in order for us to review and to resolve all conflicts of interest prior to the start of the activity.

Syllabus/Handouts
CME information must be communicated to your learners prior to them engaging in the activity and a handout/syllabus provided to the participants is required. UCSD CME must approve all syllabus materials and other handouts prior to printing and distribution. Please allow at least three business days for this review and ample time for any revisions to be made. A guide to syllabus/handout material requirements can be found at here.

Sign-In/Out & Certificate Templates
Participants must sign to verify that they participated in the activity and claim the number of credits they attended. Our sign-in/out sheet templates can be found here. After signing out, attendees should receive a certificate of credit for participating in the activity. Certificate templates for MD's and non-MD's along with instructions can be found here.

Evaluations
CME activities must be evaluated according to their effectiveness in achieving the learning objectives/desired outcome and for their projected/actual impact on clinical practice. UC San Diego CME utilizes two different evaluation forms, one for overall activity evaluation and one for speaker evaluation which should be used unless an exception is requested prior to the start of the activity. Evaluation templates can be found here.

Commercial Support – Letters of Agreement
A letter of agreement (LOA) is required for all commercial support awarded a CME activity. All LOAs must be made out to UCSD as the accredited provider, and signed by the UCSD CME office prior to the start of the activity. If you are planning to pursue commercial support for your activity, please contact us for guidance as this is a highly regulated area. You may also visit our FAQ section for further information.

Syllabus/Handouts
The syllabus that you developed during the pre-activity phase and that was approved by our office must be shared with your learners prior to them engaging in the activity. For live internet activities, this information also needs to be shared with the attendees prior to them participating.

Sign-In/Out & Certificate Templates
Attendees must sign to verify that they participated in the activity and claim the number of credits they attended. After signing out, attendees should receive a certificate of credit for participating in the activity. The sign-in sheets and certificate templates you developed during pre-activity phase must be used.

Evaluations
CME activities must be evaluated according to their effectiveness in achieving the learning objectives/desired outcome and for their projected/actual impact on clinical practice. Please use the templates provided by our office.

Follow-up documentation is due to our office within four weeks of the activity end date in order to fulfill all remaining accreditation requirements. Requirements for live CME activities include:

• Evaluation summaries and other outcomes data
• Final Participant list (including name, contact information and total physicians/non-physicians in attendance)
• Final copy of brochure and promotional materials (i.e. flyers, postcards, website)
• Sign-in sheets including credits claimed
• Final copy of syllabus/hand-out materials (electronic copy if available)
• List of all commercial supporters including amount and nature of support (fully executed copies of LOAs should be with CME office prior to start of activity)
• Financial close-outs (due 12 weeks following the activity) including an itemized list of faculty travel reimbursements and honoraria.

Documentation may be submitted via e-mail to (cmeaccred@health.ucsd.edu). Once all required documentation has been received, the meeting planner/coordinator listed on the accreditation application will receive a notification of completion.