All physicians must complete continuing medical education (CME) but few understand the origins of CME or how credits are awarded.
The American Medical Association (AMA) considers numerous activities for physician continuing medical education (CME) credit.
The most common type of credit is Category 1, which includes conferences, workshops, seminars, and manuscript review.
These credits can only be awarded by the AMA and organizations and state medical societies accredited by the
Accreditation Council of Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). The Pennsylvania Medical Society is ACCME accredited. Before CME credits are approved, activities like seminars and conferences go through a rigorous approval process.
Other activities, such as publishing articles and pursuing medically related advanced degrees, require the physician to apply directly to the AMA for credit. Physicians should claim credit after completing the activity.
Educational experiences that may not be developed by an accredited CME provider or qualify for Category 1 credit can count for Category 2 credit. Examples include teaching, unstructured online learning, and reading authoritative medical literature.
When claiming Category 2 Credits, physicians should calculate the number of credits based on the number of hours of participation to the nearest quarter hour.
Each physician ultimately is responsible for maintaining CME records. Members of the Pennsylvania Medical Society can use CME Tracker as a central repository for collecting and maintaining a record of Category 1 credits and as a journal for Category 2 credits.