Question Acquisition Form: Use this form as a tool to capture the screening questions.

Preliminary questionnaire

Before you Begin - Procure a copy of the Screening Questions

Use this form to get a copy of the preliminary questions you will need to answer in one sitting to submit and inquiry to the Office of CME. Since the form is dynamic, your answers control the questions that are subsequently displayed. Therefore, try to answer the screening questions as accurately as you can. Be sure to select the small checkbox in the lower left at the end of the survey to send your yourself a copy of the completed form. You can then discuss the questions with your planners before submitting the actual form: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/4444c194a493454fa97b8c8ab533640a


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 forward the first date when education will be offered for credit 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.


Please Note: The UCSF Office of CME is not yet accepting first-time inquiries for live, enduring, and mixed format programs.


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 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 third-party accreditation, education influenced by Medical Education Communications Companies (MECCs), or from 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.

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

•    you make a third-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) or an ineligible commercial entity.

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 third-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.


Plan Now for the full Credit Request:


Education by the Team For the Team

  • Tip! Plan now to design an opportunity for professions from one another to improve team competence and/or performance.
  • Tip! Identify now the ways in which 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 now to design your program to narrow the gap between actual and ideal, evidence-based practices.
  • Tip! Identify now in what way individual practices will ideadlly change as a result of your program and have literature citations or data to show that your content reflects 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.


Upon submission, we will be sending an auto-generated email

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.
  • 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.

  • 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 Orientations. OCME offers Credit standards, How to Write an Excellent Credit Request; and How to Use the CE Portal for Activity Management and the Credit Request process. These are offered monthly. You can always reach out to me to request an invitation.


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 3rd 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 should change the 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 at least six months in advance of your start date.


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:

(TBD)



***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 are again open to first-time accreditation requests and can provide a clear set of requirements.