The ASSH enduring materials policy is applied to Internet CME, Journal CME and Manuscript Review CME. 

​PURPOSE

DEFINITION

POLICY

1. Enduring materials are planned just like any other CME activity, except that certain addition special requirements must be included.
2. Enduring materials may contain advertisements as long as they are not product specific and do not appear within the pages of the CME content. The ads may appear on the preceding pages and following the activity material, but cannot be imbedded in the content.
3. Enduring materials shall not reference trade-named products specifically, although discussions of generic use of products in treatments may be made as long as they are fair, balanced, and reference studies that are scientifically-objective.
4. Acknowledgement of the receipt of commercial support for the enduring material must be made, and that acknowledgement must be made at the beginning of the enduring material.
5. General CME information – including the accreditation statement, credit designation statement, target audience, all special enduring material statements (see “Implementation”), and disclosure of both financial relationships and discussion of unlabeled or unapproved uses – must be made at the beginning of the enduring material.

IMPLEMENTATION

Because there is no direct interaction between the provider and/or faculty and the learner, the provider must communicate the following information to participants so that they are aware of this information prior to starting the educational activity:

1. Principal faculty and their credentials;
2. Medium or combination of media used;
3. Method of physician participation in the learning process;
4. Estimated time to complete the educational activity (same as number of designated credit hours);
5. Dates of original release and most recent review or update; and
6. Termination date (date after which enduring material is no longer certified for credit).
7. Providers that produce enduring materials must review each enduring material at least once every three years or more frequently if indicated by new scientific developments. So, while providers can review and re-release an enduring material every three years (or more frequently), the enduring material cannot be offered as an accredited activity for more than three years without some review on the part of the provider to ensure that the content is still up-to-date and accurate. That review date must be included on the enduring material, along with the original release date and a termination date.
8. Sometimes providers will create an enduring material from a live CME activity. When this occurs, ACCME considers the provider to have created two separate activities – one live activity and one enduring material activity. Both activities must comply with all ACCME requirements, and the enduring material activity must comply additionally with all ACCME policies that relate specifically to enduring materials.

This policy describes ACCME requirements with regard to the ACCME-defined activity type, enduring materials.

Accreditation Statement:

“The American Society for Surgery of the Hand is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.”

“This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and < name of non-accredited sponsor>. The American Society for Surgery of the Hand is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.”

Credit Designation Statement

“The American Society for Surgery of the Hand designates this educational activity for a maximum of <number of credits> AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ .

Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity”

Statement of Need:

Target Audience and Prerequisites (if any):

Topics and Faculty and Committee Member Credentials:

Acknowledgment of Commercial Support:

Sponsor and Faculty Financial Relationships Disclosure

“As a provider accredited by the ACCME, it is the policy of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand to require the disclosure of the existence of any significant financial interest or any other relationship the sponsor or faculty members and their spouse/partner have with the manufacturer(s) of any commercial product(s) discussed in an educational presentation.

The presenting faculty reported the following: <insert disclosures, including all faculty disclosure statements as well as those who have no disclosure to report.>"

Faculty Discussions of Unlabeled or Unapproved Uses

Release Date, Review Date, Expiration Date, Estimated Time to Complete the Activity

Original Release Date: <insert month/day/year>

Review Date: <insert month/day/year> (use only if applicable)

Expiration Date: <insert month/day/year (no longer than 3 years from most recent review date)>

Estimated Time to Complete This Educational Activity: <number of hours and/or credits (same as credit designation statement)>

Evaluation and Post-Test

Instructions for Participating in the Activity and Securing CME Credit

Internet CME

• Activity Location: ACCME-accredited providers may not place their CME activities on a Web site owned or controlled by a commercial interest.
• Links to Product Web sites: With clear notification that the learner is leaving the educational Web site, links from the Web site of an ACCME accredited provider to pharmaceutical and device manufacturers’ product Web sites are permitted before or after the educational content of a CME activity, but shall not be embedded in the educational content of a CME activity.
• Transmission of information: For CME activities in which the learner participates electronically (e.g., via Internet, CD-ROM, satellite broadcasts), all required ACCME information must be communicated to the learner prior to the learner beginning the CME activity.
• Advertising: Advertising of any type is prohibited within the educational content of CME activities on the Internet including, but not limited to, banner ads, subliminal ads, and pop-up window ads. For computer based CME activities, advertisements and promotional materials may not be visible on the screen at the same time as the CME content and not interleafed between computer windows or screens of the CME content.
• Hardware/Software Requirements: The accredited provider must indicate, at the start of each Internet CME activity, the hardware and software required for the learner to participate.
• Provider Contact Information: The accredited provider must have a mechanism in place for the learner to be able to contact the provider if there are questions about the Internet CME activity.
• Policy on Privacy and Confidentiality: The accredited provider must have, adhere to, and inform the learner about its policy on privacy and confidentiality that relates to the CME activities it provides on the Internet.
• Copyright: The accredited provider must be able to document that it owns the copyright for, or has received permissions for use of, or is otherwise permitted to use copyrighted materials within a CME activity on the Internet.

In addition, activities that are provided electronically, whether they have live or enduring activities, must comply with all accreditation requirements.

Journal CME: Definition and Requirements

The educational content of journal CME must be within the ACCME's Definition of CME.  Journal CME activities must comply with all ACCME accreditation requirements. Because of the nature of the activity, there are two additional requirements that journal CME must meet:

1. The ACCME does not consider a journal-based CME activity to have been completed until the learner documents participation in that activity to the provider.
2. None of the elements of journal-based CME can contain any advertising or product group messages of commercial interests. Disclosure information cannot contain trade names. The learner must not encounter advertising within the pages of the article or within the pages of the related questions or evaluation materials.

Manuscript Review CME

• The texts to be reviewed must be original contributions to the medical literature that require multiple reviewers, e.g., not book reviews. 
• All articles reviewed by the Associate Editors are original contributions to the medical literature that require multiple reviewers.  Book reviews, review articles, etc. are not included.
• The journal editor, working with the accredited provider, will need to educate reviewers about the CME process: establish objectives and criteria for content review, and provide all needed instructions.
• All Associate Editors receive “Guidelines for Reviewing Scientific Manuscripts” at the time they become members of the Editorial Board. 
• Associate Editors are required to attend the instructional course on “Reviewing Manuscripts for the JHS” at the ASSH Annual Meeting (if available) or review the recorded session on the ASSH/JHS website. 
• Manuscript review assignments must be at a depth and scope that require a review of the literature and a knowledge of the evidence base for the manuscripts reviewed.  To the extent possible, this review of the evidence base should be documented.
• All Associate Editors are chosen for membership on the Editorial Board based on the quality of their reviews as Consultant Reviewer over an extended period of time.  AE are qualified hand surgeons who have expertise in various subspecialties of hand surgery.  Articles are assigned to specific reviewers based on the subject of the article and the specific areas of hand surgery expertise of the reviewers.
• The accredited provider, working with the journal editor, should have an oversight mechanism to evaluate the quality of reviews submitted.  This process should assure that physicians who submit substandard reviews do not continue to participate or receive credit for subsequent activities.
• A grade is assigned to each review.  At the end of the year, Associate Editors will receive a compilation of the quality of their reviews during the year. 
• A reviewer with substandard reviews is taken off the Editorial Board.