Why Is CME So Important For Physicians?

Find Out Why Accredited CME Is Important For Healthcare Professionals

As a physician, your learning journey doesn't end with medical school graduation. To perform at the top of your field, you must participate in non-stop education, especially since healthcare constantly evolves. 

So how do physicians like you keep up with the nonstop education requirements needed to advance their careers? 

Continuing medical education (CME) allows healthcare workers to stay current with their niche's latest developments and offer their patients the best possible care. 

You must participate in accredited CME activities to ensure you can use those CME credits for recertification in your state. 

Let’s look closely at accredited CME, what kind of CME activities you need, and how you can earn CME credits with a packed physician’s schedule. 

What Is Accredited CME? 

CME is an educational activity that allows healthcare professionals, like physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and healthcare administrators, to maintain, increase, or develop their professional skills. 

An accredited CME is approved by an accrediting body, such as the Accreditation Council For Continuing Medical Education or ACCME. 

CME allows physicians to keep up with the ever-changing healthcare industry and receive updated information about industry trends and practices. All CME activities must be related to healthcare and medicine to be used towards recertification. 

Accredited CME counts towards recertification requirements and ensures you have the most accurate, up-to-date information to use at your practice. According to ACCME, in order for a CME course or activity to be accredited, it must meet three levels of criteria: 

• Comply with accreditation criteria 

• Meet the standards for integrity and independence in accredited continuing education 

• Align with ACCME policies 

For continuing medical education courses to be approved, they must go through a rigorous board review to ensure the information offered is accurate. It reflects the most up-to-date best practices for your specific area of practice. 

What Types Of CME Credits Do Physicians Need? 

Many professions require continuing education credits to ensure their professionals stay current on all the latest developments in their field. Some include mandated topics like:

• Infectious disease training 

• Pain management and the dangers of opioids 

• Public health risk management 

• Pharmacology updates 

• Addiction in the workplace training 

While some free CME opportunities are available to physicians, others require payment, so you must ensure the credits will count toward your CME requirements. Always consult your accrediting body or specialty board to ensure you’ve met these requirements.

Activities approved by accrediting bodies, such as AACME, AOA, CFPC, and DHP can also count as formal CME if the topics are relevant to licensure needs. 

Additionally, some clinician types may need to earn maintenance of certification or MOC credits to maintain licensure in addition to their continuing medical education courses. 

How Can Busy Physicians Find Time To Complete CME Requirements? 

Keeping up with your CME requirements can save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run. This is because CEM allows you to stay current in your field of medicine and offer top-level care to your patients. 

The best way to access continuing medical education courses is to use an online CME learning platform provided by your office or organization. 

A CME learning platform, like BeaconLive, allows healthcare providers like you to access educational content from anywhere in the world without manually tracking credits or unfinished requirements. This type of system is essential for large healthcare organizations, and small healthcare organizations like private practices. 

Online CME platforms are excellent options for accessing essential CME activities and networking with health professionals worldwide. When choosing the right CME platform, look for the following features to ensure you get the best experience possible. 

• Live event capabilities for webinars and webcasts 

• Engaging features, like live polling, breakout sessions, and chat capabilities 

• Automated certificate delivery and tracking 

• 24/7 tech support for CME providers and participants 

• Access to CE catalogs, learning libraries, and knowledge bases

The best eLearning platforms for CME offer a user-friendly dashboard that allows you to track your current and past CME activities. This means you won’t have to keep up with paper copies and can easily see which required credits you’ve earned and which topics you still need to cover. 

Remember that some mandated activities and credits have an in-person component, meaning you will have to attend live classes to earn them. These may take the form of hybrid CME or be entirely in-person. 

However, with so many CME possibilities available online, you can easily tackle your recertification requirements on the go. 

Don’t Let Your CME Activities Fall Short During This Renewal Cycle 

Whether you’re a primary care physician who needs CME credits or looking to join the ranks of CME providers who offer learning opportunities to healthcare professionals, it’s essential to find the right learning management system to help elevate your continuing medical education experience. 

BeaconLive offers a fully customizable CME LMS platform with everything you need to stay on the cutting edge of your medical practice area. 

Our in-house team of experts ranges from CE specialists to event producers, meaning that CME courses designed on our platform have access to a knowledgeable staff from start to finish. 

If you want to become a CME provider, contact BeaconLive today for more information on how our state-of-the-art LMS can help you design, develop, and implement your continuing medical education course. 

References

Accreditation Rules. (2023). Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. https://www.accme.org/accreditation-rules