The process of lifelong learning is necessary for physicians to continuously grow their skills. The mechanisms through which doctors must earn and receive credit for continuing medical education (CME) and maintenance of certification, however, are unnecessarily cumbersome, says a resolution introduced at the 2024 AMA Interim Meeting by the American College of Physicians.
"With all of the other administrative burdens physicians face every day, it is vital to take steps toward simplifying the CME reporting process,” said AMA Trustee Melissa J. Garretson, MD. “Right now, reporting is entirely too time-consuming and repetitive. If we can streamline the CME process and adopt standardized reporting, physicians can focus on what matters most—providing high-quality care to patients."
CME is a requirement for maintaining medical licensure in almost every state and maintenance of certification is a requirement across multiple medical and surgical specialty boards.
Earning CME credit can be particularly challenging for physicians who practice in multiple states. The one in five physicians who hold medical licenses in more than one state are often dealing with a system in which state medical licensing boards have differing CME requirements and without a common standard. Furthermore, federal entities, states, and medical specialty boards may require overlapping CME.
The AMA Ed Hub™️ is an online learning platform that brings together high-quality CME, maintenance of certification, and educational content from trusted sources, all in one place—with activities relevant to you, automated credit tracking, and reporting for some states and specialty boards.
The AMA is the owner of one of three major CME credit systems in the U.S., the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA), which sets a standard for quality CME. However, some boards are only recognizing a subset of AMA PRA Category 1 credit™.
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Though simplified and centralized reporting of CME exists, it is not universally implemented across all states and medical specialties requiring CME. To streamline reporting of CME credit, the House of Delegates directed the AMA to advocate that:
- Medical specialty and state medical boards continue to allow manual entry of CME until all boards and continuing medical education providers participate in a common reporting standard.
- Any CME that requires answering questions to be categorized as “self-assessment continuing medical education."
- All entities, including licensing and specialty boards, should recognize all AMA PRA credit equally.
The AMA also will work with relevant stakeholders to:
- Minimize the financial and time burden of reporting CME, including but not limited to participation in a common reporting standard.
- Examine the feasibility of a single common CME requirement for maintaining state licensure.
Learn more about the AMA Ed Hub and the new AMA Ed Hub Transcript app, which helps medical students and physicians manage their CME credit and transcripts.
AMA members also have access to curated, mini-CME tracks designed to help physicians meet the educational criteria for the one-time, eight-hour training requirement for all Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-registered physicians and other prescribers.
Learn more about how to fast-track DEA training. Get your exclusive, AMA members-only certificate for opioid and substance-use disorder CME.
Read about the other highlights from the 2024 AMA Interim Meeting.
