The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) made a presentation to an Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research during a meeting on Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) for extended-release and long-acting opioid analgesics. The July 22 – 23 meeting was held jointly by the Anesthetic and Life-Support Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee.
The ACCME was one of two organizations invited to present about continuing education; the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education also made a presentation.
Murray Kopelow, MD, ACCME Chief Executive, explained how accredited continuing medical education could be a strategic asset to REMS initiatives. Under the opioid analgesics plan proposed by the FDA, the FDA would control the REMS content, meaning that the education would be independent and acceptable within accredited CME. With other REMS plans, the education originates with the manufacturers, which is not acceptable within accredited CME.
"We were honored to be invited by the FDA to explain how accredited CME can be a strategic asset in REMS," said Dr. Kopelow. "The overuse, underuse and misuse of opioid analgesics is a major public health issue. We believe accredited CME can have a demonstrable impact on improving physician expertise and patient safety in this area.”
The ACCME is now contacting representatives of the CME provider community to assist with their understanding and application of this process.
Download Dr. Kopelow's presentation.
The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education is a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago that is responsible for accrediting U.S. institutions that offer continuing medical education through a voluntary, self-regulatory system. The ACCME also has a system for recognizing state medical societies as accreditors for local organizations offering CME.
The ACCME's mission is to identify, develop and promote standards for quality continuing medical education that improves health care for patients and their communities. There are currently approximately 2,200 accredited CME providers in the United States, whose educational activities draw more than 17 million health care practitioner participants annually.
The ACCME's member organizations include the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the Association for Hospital Medical Education, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and the Federation of State Medical Boards of the U.S. Inc.
For more information, visit www.accme.org.