Office of Medical Education

Policies & Procedures

The primary goal of the LSU CME office is to provide high-quality, evidence-based education that meets the needs of the LSU School of Medicine community and its stakeholders. The LSU School of Medicine-New Orleans is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to certify eligible education for AMA PRA Category 1 ^TM credit.

This conflict of interest policy aims to maintain the educational integrity of CME activities by managing and mitigating potential conflicts of interest that may arise in the planning and presentation of certified education. Education must be independent of industry influence and the ACCME's Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education Standard 3 provides guidance for managing this process. The LSU School of Medicine-New Orleans conflict of interest policy is as follows:

All those in a position to influence education content must provide an accurate and timely LSU CME disclosure that requires all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the past 24 months. Ineligible companies are those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. There is no minimal financial threshold; you must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies. Disclosure includes all financial relationships, whether you view the financial relationship as relevant to the education. The primary mechanism to collect this information is an electronic form

Once received, this information is reviewed to ensure eligibility to participate in planning, presenting, authoring, or influencing educational content. This may require additional information and require initiation of our mitigation process. Confirmation on a CME activity is not confirmed until this determination is made by the LSU CME office.

This policy meets the ACCME's criterion for managing conflicts of interest in continuing medical education and may be modified to maintain accreditation standards.

 

CME COI Process Steps

1. Collect Information
2. Exclude Owners and Employees of Ineligible Companies
3. Identify Relevant Financial Relationships
4. Mitigate Relevant Financial Relationships
5. Disclose All Relevant Financial Relationships to Learners

 

Step 1: Collect Information

In the initial planning stages of the activity-during the initial planning meeting to discuss activity elements-the process and management for collecting disclosures of those in control of the content ad LSU CME policies are discussed. In this meeting with activity planners, all activity planners are identified. The LSU CME mechanism for identifying financial relationships with ineligible companies is by using an electronic disclosure form. Each person determined to be in control of content is required to complete a disclosure form in a timely manner. The CME office will review the information once it is collected.

Step 2: Exclude Owners and Employees of Ineligible Companies

Individuals who are owners or employees of ineligible companies are not eligible to participate in accredited education. Three very narrow exceptions exist for their participation. Please contact the LSU CME office to discuss.

Step 3: Identify Relevant Financial Relationships

Completed disclosure forms will be reviewed to determine which financial relationships are relevant to education. Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.

Step 4: Mitigate Relevant Financial Relationships

The CME office will take steps to prevent all those with financial relationships from inserting commercial bias into content. This process differs depending on the role the individual has in the activity, the content presented, the learning format, and the timing of the activity.

• Planner with Relevant Financial Relationship(s)

Planners with relevant financial relationships will have all planning decisions reviewed by non-conflicted planners who are deemed eligible and qualified to make content decisions. This process aims to have non-biased, unconflicted, content experts review the planning decisions (i.e. speaker selection, agenda, evaluation and commercial support). The additional planner is expected to fully participate as a planner for the duration of the activity to ensure no influence from financial relationships exists. The additional planner will review all faculty decisions and all content.

This requires extensive planning time and additional resources

• Speaker with Relevant Financial Relationship(s)

Speakers with relevant financial relationships will be asked to provide a copy of their presentation at least 5 business days prior to the date of the activity. The presentation will be reviewed by the CME staff and CME staff will send the completed disclosure, copy of the presentation, and initial findings to the activity medical director (AMD).  This process aims to have the AMD, a non-biased, unconflicted content expert review the presentation materials. 

The AMD will review and reply with their findings. A final decision and/or any recommendations to edit content, is communicated to the presenter. The presenter is given the option to present with the changes or, in some instances, present without the ability to offer CME credit. Typically this process is performed by email and requires additional time and timely responses from all parties involved.

Step 5: Disclose All Relevant Financial Relationships to Learners

Learners are informed of the presence or absence of relevant financial relationships for all individuals in control of content prior to the beginning of the activity. The CME office provides each activity with disclosure slides or a handout with disclosure information. The method of communicating this information is discussed in the planning meeting and, as a general rule, we attempt to have this information communicated to learners two different ways prior to the activity. Slides are updated as needed on the Sharepoint site for most activities.

For activities where there is a moderator or introductory remarks, disclosure slides are presented at the beginning of the conference. For activities with handouts, the information is available on the handout distributed at registration.

In general, LSU CME intends to communicate this information using two methods for each activity. This is often dependent upon activity format and delivery, and discussed in the planning meeting.

Key Definitions

Ineligible Company: Those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients

 

Conflict of Interest: A potential conflict of interest arises when an individual has the opportunity to influence CME content about products or services of an ineligible company with which they have a financial relationship with in the past 24 months

 

Disclosure Requirements: All CME faculty, planners, and authors, or those deemed to have influence, are required to disclosure any financial relationships that could be perceived as a conflict of interest. The disclosure is necessary to ensure that the educational content is free from commercial bias

 

Mitigation Process: The policy mandates that any disclosure conflicts of interest must be reviewed and resolved before the CME activity is approved. This is to ensure that the content remains objective and unbiased.

 

Relevance: Review the information about financial relationships to determine which are relevant. This responsibility is on the CME team, as well as the AMD, with the goal of protecting the learning environment from the influence of an ineligible company

 

Documentation: Individuals involved in CME activities must complete a disclosure form, which is reviewed as part of the planning process.. This documentation is necessary for maintaining the integrity of the CME program.

 

 

 

Conflict of Interest Policy
PDF

Honoraria and Reimbursement Policy
PDF