Continuing Medical Education (CME)in Skin Disease and Care- All physicians are required to participate in continuing medical education (CME), and each state licensing board mandates a minimum number CME credits for licensure renewal
- The required number of CME credits varies from state to state, and it must be completed within the license cycle (which typically is either two or three years)
- Also, certain states may have specific requirements for CME credits in particular areas, such as patient safety or risk management
- The most accepted type of CME credit is the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA) Category 1 Credit
- In order to help physicians identify accredited CME providers, the AMA requires its providers to trademark the credit phrase: AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM
- Two types of AMA PRA credits: category 1 credit (formal activities) and category 2 credit (non-supervised activities)
- AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM
- Provider designated activities: accredited CME provider issues credit to physician after completing CME activity such as:
- Live activities (conferences, workshops, seminars, etc.)
- Journal-based CME
- Enduring material (educational activity in print, online, video, etc.)
- Internet point of care learning (self-directed online learning)
- Direct credit activities: physician directly receives AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM from AMA after filling out Direct Credit Application (found on AMA website) with appropriate documentation and processing fee (typically around $75 for non-AMA members, approximately $30 for AMA members), includes following:
- Teaching in live CME activity
- Publishing an article (up to 10 credits if lead author) or presenting poster (5 credits)
- Board certification exam completion (25 credits of AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM)
- Independent learning
- AMA PRA Category 2 Credit
- Non-supervised activities; completely self-claimed and self-documented by the physician; physician determines number of credits received based on time spent (60 min equivalent to 1 credit); activities should be documented ideally with date, title, content, hours spent in activity with appropriate number of designated credits; includes following:
- Teaching medical students and/or residents
- Online learning
- Reading medical literature, medical writing, and research
- Small group discussions
- Preceptorship
- Live activities not designated for AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM
- AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM is recognized and accepted across all jurisdictions and medical organizations/boards
- Typically there is a minimum number of category 1 credits required and a maximum number of category 2 credits allowed for licensure renewal
- Due to minimum AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM requirement, it is important to identify legitimate AMA PRA Category 1 activities
- There are non-accredited organizations that will advertise “Category 1 CreditsTM” or “CME’s offered,” but it is important to be aware these are not equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM
- There is no central database for physicians to track number of CME credits
- It is important to log all of the CME activities with the certificates of completion because the state licensing board can perform a random audit, in which case you must show evidence of completion of the required hours
- The duration of time to hold on to CME credit certificates will depend on how long the specific medical licensing board requires a CME history (typically between 2 and 6 years)
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