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Regularly Scheduled Conferences

Complete the following steps when planning regularly scheduled continuing medical education events at Saint Louis University.

Regularly scheduled conference activities are approved for one year, corresponding to the Saint Louis University fiscal cycle of July 1 to June 30. A new application must be submitted for approval and renewal each year. Failure to comply with the guidelines will result in the suspension of CME approval for activities.

1. Obtain Approval or Renewal of CME Credits

To obtain approval of a new regularly scheduled conference:

Download Checklist

To renew approval for existing activities (renewed on a one-year cycle):

Download Checklist

2. Display Announcements and Flyers

A flyer reflecting all of the required information listed below must be prominently displayed at the sign-in area of each session of a regularly scheduled conference.

  • Date of activity
  • Location/address
  • Sponsorship information
  • Accreditation statement
  • AMA credit designation statement
  • Educational objectives
  • Target audience
  • Faculty information and credentials
  • Disclosure policy
  • Faculty/planning member disclosures
  • Validation of content policy
  • Acknowledgement of commercial funding
  • Program schedule/timeframe
  • Registration and contact information

All flyers must be created using our template. Refer to the promotional guidelines for additional information governing CME flyers, announcements and calendars.

3. Complete Faculty and Planner Disclosures

Faculty presenters and planners are required to complete the faculty and planning committee disclosure and validation of content forms in advance of each session. Planners include anyone who has control over the selection or content of the presentation.

For disclosure reporting purposes, the timeframe for disclosure of conflicts of interest has been defined as the 12 months preceding the event. SLU faculty and residents may submit a disclosure form on an annual basis.

Any changes to the original disclosure must be updated immediately and a new form sent to the CME office 10 days prior to the start of the activity. If a faculty or planner does not have a relevant financial relationship to the presentation or topic, the following disclosure statement must appear on the flyer:

"[Insert Faculty/Planner Name] has no relevant financial relationships. He/she does not intend to include information on products/devices not approved for the use under discussion, or preliminary research data in this presentation."

If a faculty or planner does have a relevant financial relationship, the exact nature of the relationship must be included on the flyer and resolution of the conflict of interest must be accomplished he or she may participate in the activity.

Contact the CME office for assistance with appropriate disclosure statements and additional information on the resolution of conflicts of interest. See the Faculty and Planning Committee Policy on Disclosure for more information on how to word a disclosure statement.

Division coordinators responsible for providing information to a departmental level coordinator must allow additional lead time. The flyer will be reviewed on an annual basis unless faculty has a relevant financial relationship or commercial support. If one of these two exists then the flyer must be sent to the CME office for review no later than three days prior to the activity. If the faculty disclosure in question has not been previously reviewed it should be sent with the flyer.

4. Validate Content

As an accredited provider of continuing medical education, Saint Louis University School of Medicine follows the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for Commercial Support and content validation for CME activities, which requires accredited sponsors ensure:

  • All the recommendations involving clinical medicine are based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their indications and contraindications in the care of patients.
  • All scientific research referred to, reported or used in CME in support or justification of a patient care recommendation conforms to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis.

Providers are not eligible for ACCME accreditation or reaccreditation if they present activities that are not within the definition of CME, or known to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits or known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients. An organization whose program of CME is devoted to advocacy of unscientific modalities of diagnosis or therapy is not eligible to apply for ACCME accreditation.

To comply with this policy, presenters are required to provide references either within their handout materials or within their slide presentations to document the sources of information used.

5. Provide Faculty CV

A faculty CV or descriptive biography must be provided for all guest faculty. Faculty credentials must be included on the flyer announcements (degree, academic or other position, institutional affiliation, city/state).

6. Complete Commercial Letters of Agreement

If commercial support is provided for an activity, the company providing the support must complete a commercial letter of agreement before the event takes place.

Commercial support includes providing money, physical items such as food and loans of equipment. See the policy for relationships with commercial entities for additional details and regulations.

All letters of agreement must be signed by the commercial interest and the proper signature authority at the School of Medicine prior to the event.

Letters must be received by the CME office five days prior to the activity if the SLU template is used. Letters using an outside template must be submitted at least four weeks prior to the activity and require review by SLU’s Office of the General Counsel.

7. Provide Attendance Records and Database Entry

The sponsoring department or division must provide a sign-in sheet for each session of an approved activity and maintain those records for a period of at least six years.

An individual responsible for posting and collecting sign-in sheets must be assigned at the beginning of each academic year.

The CME office does not require the sign-in sheets to be submitted but will conduct periodic audits of the records to ensure they are properly maintained.

The event’s sponsoring department or division is responsible for entering the activity attendance and information into the CME database. Database entry must be maintained within 30 days after a completed activity. Contact the SLU CME Office to be added as a CloudCME user and trained to post attendance.

8. Complete Evaluation

Evaluation of the activity must be accomplished on an annual basis. Evaluation on a more frequent timeframe is commendable but not required. If evaluations are collected throughout the year, email those reports to the CME office for inclusion into your course file. The SLU CME program staff will send out a yearly evaluation to gather an overall outcomes report.

9. Complete Post-Activity Financial Report

Fill out the post-activity financial report.