Providership
The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School Office of Continuing Medical Education (UMass Chan - OCME) is an accredited provider of CME under the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. Our office provides cost-effective providership opportunities to internal and external organizations whose mission compliments that of the UMass Chan Medical School-OCME. Please note that we are only able to consider those requests which comply with the rules and regulations established by the ACCME's Essential Areas and Policies.
The overall goal of the Office of Continuing Medical Education is to provide physicians and other healthcare professionals with programs aimed at improving their skills and knowledge to assist them in the delivery of outstanding medical care. The UMass Chan Medical School-OCME works to assist presenting departments, as well as joint providers in developing and executing quality educational programs that meet the needs of today’s practicing physicians and healthcare professionals.
Directly Provided Activities
Activities planned by departments of University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, members of the UMass Memorial Medical Center and its affiliates are considered to be Directly Provided by UMass Chan Medical School.
Joint providership
The providership of a CME activity by one or more accredited and one or more nonaccredited organizations. Therefore, ACCME accredited providers that plan and present one or more activities with non-ACCME accredited providers are engaging in “joint providership.” The accredited provider must take responsibility for a CME activity when it is presented in cooperation with a nonaccredited organization and must use the appropriate accreditation statement.
What is the first step?
Contact the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School-Office of Continuing Medical Education (UMass Chan Medical School-OCME) to ensure the necessary time to discuss the conference concept, its planning and promotion. In order for your activity to be considered for providership, a CME application must be submitted to our office at least three months prior to the planned activity. Please contact the Office of Continuing Medical Education at continuing.education@umassmed.edu to request a CME application.
CME Application Approval Process:
UMass Chan Medical School-OCME certifies several activity types, developed both internally (directly-provided) and in conjunction with external partners (joint providership). Activities require submission and approval of a CME application, to be able to award credit, in addition to identifying and mitigating conflicts of interest with planners and speakers and evaluating the impact of the activity on learner competence, performance and/or patient outcomes.
Each application is reviewed by OCME staff for approval, we typcially meet on a weekly basis to review applications. An OCME staff member will notify the activity director and/or activity administrator(s) of the application status in writing within 10 days of the review decision.
We ask that credit NOT be promoted for your activity until approval is received from OCME, nor statements such as “CME has been applied for”. It is important, therefore, that you submit your application in a manner that allows it not only to be certified prior to the start date of the activity, but also with enough time to promote your activity that includes the appropriate accreditation language (at least 3 months prior to activity).
For an application to be considerred for approval we require that the activity be designed to change competence and/or performance, and that the activity is intended to address a documented or factually-based practice gap. A gap in practice is described as the difference between current practice and desired, optimal practice, and can apply to any aspect of a learner's current profession, including clinical care, research, teaching, administration or leadership.
Activity Types:
Course: A course is a live activity where the learner participates in person. A course is planned as an individual event.
Examples: annual meeting, conference, seminar. (Occuring once or several times throughout the year)
Internet Live Course: An internet live course is an online course available at a certain time on a certain date and is only available in real-time, just as if it were a course held in an auditorium. Once the event has taken place, learners may no longer participate in that activity. Examples: webcast, zoom, WebEx.
Internet Activity (Enduring Material): An internet enduring material activity is available when the learner chooses to complete it. It is “enduring,” meaning that there is not just one time on one day to participate in it. Rather, the learner determines when he/she participates. Examples: online interactive educational module, recorded presentation, podcast.
Regularly Scheduled Series (Internal Only): Regularly scheduled series is a course planned as a series with multiple, ongoing sessions, e.g., offered weekly, monthly, or quarterly; and is primarily planned by and presented to the accredited organization’s professional staff. Examples include grand rounds, tumor boards, and morbidity and mortality conferences.
Performance Improvement: Performance improvement activities are based on a learner’s participation in a project established and/or guided by a provider in which a learner identifies an educational need through a measure of his/her performance in practice, engages in educational experiences to meet the need, integrates learning into patient care and then re-evaluates his/her performance.
In order for your activity to be considered for providership, a CME application must be submitted to our office at least three months prior to the planned activity. For more information, please contact the Office of Continuing Medical Education at continuing.education@umassmed.edu or at 508-856-3041.
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