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ACCME Approves a CME-Internet Policy
ACCME
05/28/2002

The Accreditation Council for CME (ACCME) has approved a statement on acceptable CME provided over the Internet. (In contrast, the European Accreditation Council on CME has avoided taking a position on accrediting any enduring materials, including the Internet.)

The primary expectation of the ACCME's policy "is that providers will plan and implement CME activities delivered via the Internet in compliance with the Essential Areas, Elements, and policies. However, due to the nature of the Internet, some additional requirements and/or interpretations were adopted. For example, to maintain separation of promotion from education, CME activities of an ACCME accredited provider cannot be on a pharmaceutical or device manufacturers' product website; with clear notification that the learner is leaving the educational website, links from the website of an ACCME accredited provider to pharmaceutical and device manufacturers' product websites are permitted before or after the educational content of a CME activity, but shall not be embedded in the educational content of a CME activity; and advertising of any type is prohibited within the educational content of CME activities on the Internet including, but not limited to, banner ads, subliminal ads, and pop-up window ads.

"The effective date of these new Internet policies is immediate, but the ACCME expects that providers will need time to implement. Therefore:

1. All CME activities delivered via the Internet must be in compliance with the new requirements by October 1, 2002.
2. The ACCME will review the Internet CME activities of new applicants for accreditation beginning in October 2002.
3. For providers seeking reaccreditation, only their Internet CME activities deployed/operating after October 1, 2002 will be reviewed for compliance."

To view a copy of the policies, go to: www.accme.org/index.cfm/fa/Policy.Policy/Policy_id/2898213d-632f-447c-a479-8689bfd95288.cfm

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