Do you have a new idea for an educational activity or would you like to start to offer Continuing Education Credit for an educational activity through the UCSF Office of CME?

New Inquiry Questionnaire

Before you Begin


The UCSF Office of CME is accepting first-time Requests to accredit Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS) only.


New RSS requests must be submitted with sufficient time for preliminary screening and review so that the credit request is submitted before the credit request submission deadline. Inquiries not cleared via preliminary screening before the first-time credit request submission deadline must either move the start date forward or proceed without accreditation (e.g. may not award continuing education credit.)


The submission deadline for a firs-time RSS credit request is 4 months before the start date.


Use this form to submit your idea or first-time inquiry about offering credit through the UCSF Office of CME for a RSS activity. Since this form cannot be saved, i.e., must be filled out in one sitting, you may want to acquire the questions you'll need to answer and discuss them with your planners first.


To Acquire the questions you'll need to answer, please use this form:


To create a form with showing the questions you'll need to answer, fill out the form to the best of your knowledge using the the Title "Copy Questions only". This is the only way


Please remember, the Office of CME requires:


  • at least least one of the educational Program Directors to be affiliated with UCSF


  • at least one non-conflicted planner who is a subject matter expert and will mitigate conflict of interest by peer-reviewing clinical presentations in advance of the program.


  • a permanent Administrator who can be a point of contact and complete required CE Trainings prior to submission of the full Credit Request application. This person will be expected to manage operations in a manner compliant with Continuing Education (CE) standards.


  • if your program is interprofessional in nature, you must answer additional questions in order to comply with interprofessional planning credit-standards.


**IMPORTANT: Regardless of anticipated program size, the Office of CME is NOT currently considering programs which need to hire an Office of CME Event Planner.


**IMPORTANT: Requests for 3rd party accreditation, education influenced by Medical Education Communications Companies (MECCs), and companies that are commercial in nature, I.e., who market, distribute or sell products used by or on patients, preclude your eligibility to move forward in the request process.

Please Tell Us About Yourself

NOTE: If you do not hold a professional certificate or license related to the educational program, please type "N/A".

  • Please note: Do not indicate the Collaborator role if you are either the Program Director or the Administrative Contact.
  • Please note: permanent Administrator will be required in the full Credit Request Application.
**With which part of UCSF are you affiliated?*
Select
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Select the best item below which describe your (affiliated) organization:*

***You will automatically be denied approval to move forward when

  • you make a 3rd party request (i.e., your program must have at least one key Planner affiliated with UCSF)
  • any content could be influenced by a Medical Education Communications Company (MEC).

***You will automatically be denied approval to move forward when

  • any content could be influenced by a Medical Education Communications Company (MEC).
  • any content could be influenced by companies who are commercial in nature (i.e., who market, sell, or distribute healthcare products used by or on patients.
Select the best item below to describe your organization. (Check all that apply):*

***You will automatically be denied approval to move forward when

  • you make a 3rd party request (i.e., your program must have at least one key Planner affiliated with UCSF)
  • any content could be influenced by a Medical Education Communications Company (MECC).

***You will automatically be denied approval to move forward when

  • any content could be influenced by a Medical Education Communications Company (MECC).
  • any content could be influenced by companies who are commercial in nature (i.e., who market, sell, or distribute healthcare products used by or on patients



Tell Us About Your Program

The Office of CME is accredited to provide Interprofessional Continuing Education Credit

Because most health care is provided by an interprofessional team, we encourage you to consider if your educational activity should be an educational activity designed for learning that enhances interprofessional teamwork.


In the full Credit Request:


Education by the Team For the Team

  • Tip! Plan to describe how professions will have the opportunity to learn from one another.
  • Tip! Plan to identify in what way team practices fall short of ideal practice and cite literature or data to show your program plans to teach evidence-based knowledge AND skills and/or strategies for team improvement.


Education for Individuals

  • Tip! Plan to describe how the actual practices of individual providers fall short of ideal practices.
  • Tip! Plan to identify in what way individual practices fall short of ideal practice and share cite literature or data to show your program plans to teach evidence-based knowledge AND skills and/or strategies.



NOTE: Your answer choices below will help the Office of CME determine the Activity Type, the interprofessional nature of your plans, and next steps.



If you don't know the exact start date, please put the first day of the month you think you are most likely to begin. The start date may be updated after submission by your assigned Office of CME Contact.

What number of learners do expect to participate in the program?*

Please note:

  • Regardless of anticipated program size, the Office of CME is NOT currently considering programs which need to hire an Office of CME Event Planner.

Activity Type(s)

The American Medical Association (AMA) defines Continuing Education (CE) Activity Types. An Activity Type for every accredited program must be identified.


ACTIVITY TYPE DESCRIPTIONS

  • Live Activity - provides direct interaction between course faculty and learners in real time. May include lectures, symposia, live teleconferences, or workshops.
  • Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS) have regular duration and frequency, are continuous in nature, are for the purpose of faculty development, do not have registration fees, and don't market nor grant credit to audiences external to UCSF. Examples of RSS include Grand Rounds and Tumor Boards.
  • Enduring Material - AKA "Home Study" or "On Demand" learning. These have, static content such as recordings or written articles, monographs, or data.
  • Hybrid Live + Enduring - programs which have required live and enduring material components.
  • Other - The Office of CME is open to considering new learning formats. Please describe why and how your program is different from all the Activity Types described above.


IMPORTANT: If you have more than one Activity Type in your program, you may be required to submit multiple Credit Request applications.

What Type of Activity do you wish to offer?*
  • NOTE: If you program includes multiple Activities, you may be required to submit multiple Credit Requests.

Tell us About Your Planning Committee

Tip! Ask potential planners about their relationships upon invitation.

  • At least one planning committee member must have NO financial relationship with any companies who market, sell, or distribute products used on or by patents. This planner will need to mitigate conflicts of interest as part of their planning role.


To learn about requirements for planners and course faculty: [Link to be imbedded when a page with our current policies and planner and course faculty requirements is available]

***Reminder: you will automatically be denied approval to move forward when

  • you make a 3rd party request (i.e., your program must have at least one key Planner affiliated with UCSF)
  • any content could be influenced by a Medical Education Communications Company (MECC).
  • you want to develop education with companies who are commercial in nature.

NOTE: UCSF will NOT accredit education where a representative of a Medical Education Communiations Company (MECC) or a company which is commercial in nature is on the planning committee or is in a position to control any content of the education.

Tip: The planning committee's professions should represent the professions of the learners.


THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THIS PRELIMINARY INQUIRY

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PLEASE IMMEDIATEY SHARE NEXT STEPS BELOW WITH YOUR PLANNING COMMITTEE:


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Take steps early on to ensure a successful and smooth approval process. If you are requesting accreditation through the UCSF Office of CME for the first time:


Consider attending with any/all administrators who will support your course, the monthly CE Training workshops. OCME offers "Credit standards", "How to Write an Excellent Credit Request"; and "How to Use the CE Portal". You can reach out to request an invitation when you are ready to attend.


Plan a start date far enough in advance, more than 9 months is recommended for live activities and more than 4 months is recommended for RSS and enduring material activities. This is to give you enough time to both a) prepare submit the New Idea & First-Time Request form and receive approval; and then b) complete and submit a full-Credit-Request application no later than the 9 and 4 month deadline, respectively. (Office of CME does not guarantee approval in time for programs who submit later than this)


For live activities with a registration process, prepare a budget with your best-guess projections and base be strategic with registration fees so that you can break even or generate a small profit.


Think about advertising a Save-The-Date early on. (You don’t have to say anything about offering credit at this time).


Ensure the planning committee is clear from the outset about how the education should change the practice and/or behavior of the ideal learner and/or the ideal healthcare team.


Make sure you have a least one planner who has no financial conflicts of interest with any content in the Activity. (This person will need to mitigate conflicts of interest if the education applies to be accredited.)


Take steps to ensure your planning committee is comprised of members whose professions reflect those of your learners; UC or affiliated planners are required (we do not certify third-party events)


Consider whether the education is appropriate for

  1. team-based learning
  2. how you might incorporate the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in your content
  3. any elements of cultural and linguistic competency
  4. education on the forefront of Artificial Intelligence


Be clear about how the education from your program will ideally change practice and/or behavior of the ideal learner or team.


Identify evidence in literature or data that suggests that ideal practice is different actual practice. Examples include literature citations, variable patient outcomes, guideline adherence, and evidence-based best practices in publications.


Prepare any important messages you want your faculty to be advised of, and then get your speakers and topics in place so that you can submit a complete schedule of speakers and topics of your live program at least 9 months in advance of the program start date for credit and for your Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS) at least 4 months in advance of the program start date for credit.


Consider the venue and its cost and be sure it is booked before you advertise.


Be sure you can plan the Activity without an Office of CME Event Planner. (Our planners’ availability is limited at this time.)


HELPFUL LINKS:



***IMPORTANT: Steps above are intended to help organize your planning process regardless of whether the education is ultimately permitted to award credit and is not a guarantee that the UCSF Office of CME will agree to support your program for credit. Please hold questions until we have had 2 weeks to respond to your submitted New Inquiry Questionnaire form.