Introduction
As principal planners for a continuing medical education (CME) activity, you have a number of responsibilities, including compliance, which is required by our accreditation agency: the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). In order to maintain our CME accreditation, we ask your cooperation in facilitating the planning, and by providing us with the required documentation.
Accredited continuing medical education must be based on an identified gap in professional practice and a resulting need. To plan a successful CME activity, you must be clear on the specific gaps for which the CME activity will address and resolve the identified gap and needs. The successive steps in the planning process — determination of the intended outcome of the education, the formats used to support the activity, the competencies that will be addressed in the activity, and the evaluation format — all link back to the identified gaps and needs.
Selection of Planners (and Faculty) With No (or minimal) Financial Relationships with Companies that Manufacture Products Related to the Content of This Activity (“ineligible companies”)
As you consider the members of the planning team – and eventually choose faculty based on the needs of your targeted learners - keep in mind that:
- Ideally, planners should not have financial relationships with ineligible companies. If it is critical that a planner participate (but who has relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies concerning the content being planned), they may only provide input and cannot have any final decision-making authority.
- Planners and faculty for accredited activities should not be employed by, or be owners of, any ineligible company. There are some exceptions to this rule in the case where the topic of the activity is related to early research without attribution to the products of the ineligible company. If this is the case, be sure to discuss this with the CME staff prior to any invitation to participate.
- Planners and faculty that report stockholder relationships must distinguish between stocks from publicly traded entities and those that are from privately held companies. STOCK FROM A PRIVATELY HELD COMPANY IS CONSIDERED BY THE ACCME TO BE THE SAME AS AN OWNERSHIP RELATIONSHIP, and therefore the person should be disqualified to participate in the CME activity. There are exceptions to this rule as described above, but such relationships should be documented in detail and discussed with CME staff to determine if the person can continue to participate in this activity or if another qualified individual will be identified.
Because of the above requirements, the information regarding the disclosure of all financial relationships with ineligible companies from all those individuals involved in the control of content must be received by the Emory University CME Department in order to mitigate risk and determine possible strategies to resolve such relationships prior to their involvement in the planning process.
Therefore, to protect the integrity of the CME activity, please select your planning team based on the best expertise available for the topic of the activity. Also, keep in mind the required procedures involved with respect to the management of requirements associated with relevant financial relationships.
Planning CME Activities
As you plan the activity, please consider these points:
- Design the educational activity to consider treatment options that are fair and balanced, discussing the pros and cons of each treatment option and considering all options within a class of treatment options when the activity is clinical in nature and pharmacological and/or surgical interventions will be discussed.
- If the activity is focused on new and emerging topics, be sure to include content that advises learners when such data is being presented along with the best available rationale. This must be done so that learners are aware that there may be a low or absent evidence basis for that discussion.
- Working with the CME staff include evaluation questions that will help determine the effectiveness of the activity on the targeted learners and that the changes that were intended were implemented by them.
Updated November 2025.