Last December, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article on “The Agenda for Continuing Medical Education—Limiting Industry’s Influence,” by Lewis Morris, general counsel, and Julie Taitsman, chief medical officer, for the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG). The article stated that “the medical profession will one day eschew commercial support for continuing medical education (CME).” Until that day comes, the authors suggested that a mechanism be developed to allow the medical profession to subsidize CME programs designed to improve patient care. The AAMC viewed this article as an invitation to open a dialogue with the OIG about CME and related issues. As a result, Dave Davis, AAMC senior director for continuing education and performance improvement, and Ivy Baer, director and regulatory counsel in our health care affairs unit, sat down with Lew Morris and Julie Taitsman last week. Their wide-ranging discussion touched on the OIG’s concerns about who sets the educational agenda for all CME providers, and the use of CME for “kickbacks.” There was also much give and take during the conversation on how accredited, academic CME differs qualitatively from that of other CME providers. It was agreed that a broader representation of the academic community would benefit from more discussion on these issues. The AAMC is exploring ways to make this happen in the future.
