Live Activities

• First, review the Glossary of Continuing Medical Education Terms.
• Submit an application - this will facilitate the planning process by providing the Division of Continuing Professional Development (DCPD) with the educational elements of your activity.
• Prepare the following key items for the application:
  • Establish date and activity format (in-person location or virtual platform).
    • If the activity is also intended for recording and repurposing to enduring material format, please see Enduring Material Activities for additional information. Note that additional fees will apply.
  • Identify Course Director(s) and Planning Committee members.
  • Establish learning objectives for what the learner should be able to do or perform after completing the educational activity.
  • Optional: Activity budget and list of grantors to initiate the educational grant procurement process.

• To apply, click on this DCPD Application link to access the portal. Each application submission will require the user to create a new account username and password.
• The review time for an application once submitted is 3 to 4 weeks.
• The recommended lead-time to begin the planning of the Live/Live Virtual CE activity is 6-9 months which includes the lead time for marketing the activity to prospective audiences and well as time to successfully gather all required compliance documentation according to the ACCME and DCPD policies. However, we may be able to accommodate and expedite the CE process for a Live/Live Virtual CE activity on an individual basis depending on the DCPD’s activity load and the lead time needed for your activity marketing. Given the complexity of the application and compliance process, we are unable to accept applications for all expedited requests.

A Live/Live Virtual CE activity must establish a Course Director(s), Planning Committee Members, Presenter(s), and Activity Coordinator (optional).

DCPD is currently accepting BCM affiliated and non-affiliated parties that are interested in planning a Live/Live Virtual CE activity.

• A Physician that is a content expert on the topic that will be presented in the course or activity often serves as the Activity Director.
• The Activity Director is responsible for ensuring the planned activity complies with ACCME regulations including the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. This includes overseeing the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the accredited activity. He/she will be required to review and sign an Activity Director Agreement. If a Co-Activity Director is also named, they will also be required to sign the Activity Director Agreement.

• Any individual who participates in the planning and development of the educational content in collaboration with the Activity Director.
• The Planning Committee must include at least four (4) experts in the educational activity content area of which at least one (1) individual has no conflicts of interest.

• The activity coordinator may act as a liaison to oversee the successful completion of the Live/Live Virtual CE activity while in communications with the DCPD coordinator. Activity coordinators may be members of the department or organization or external staff who serve in that role to assist departmental team members. These responsibilities may include but are not limited to:
  • Establish learning objectives for which the learner should be able to do or perform after completing the educational activity
  • Work with the activity director to prepare and submit the CE application
  • Develop marketing material
  • Reserve event space
  • Coordinate rental of AV equipment
  • Arrange food and beverage catering
  • Solicit and collect letters of agreement from exhibitors
  • Create virtual meeting link
  • Gather CE educational material (disclosures, presentation slides, content review forms, etc.) requested by the DCPD coordinator
  • Identify Course Director(s) and Planning Committee members

Each CE activity is required to identify and describe the educational need underlining the professional practice gaps of the learners. This includes stating the identified professional practice gap(s) to be addressed, the learning objectives, performance goals, and to provide evidence that documents the gap(s).

• Knowledge gap: (knowing about something) the extent to which learners have a need for new information.
• Competence gap: (the ability to do something) the extent to which learners know how to implement (or stop doing) what the activity intends to teach them.
• Performance gap: (actually doing something in practice) the extent to which learners do what the CME activity intended them to be able to do (or stop doing) in their practice.

See the Available Credit Types section of the Accreditation page.

• Educational grants from companies defined by the ACCME as ineligible to be accredited in the ACCME system must be received and disbursed through the DCPD according to accreditation guidelines and BCM policies and procedures.
• DCPD will aid in submitting, processing, and managing commercial support for your activity. Agreements with all grantors must be received by the DCPD no later than 10 business days before the activity start date to facilitate the acknowledgement requirement in the educational materials (e.g., handouts).
  

The review time for an application is between 3 to 4 weeks. Following the application review, the DCPD office will connect with the designated activity director and coordinator to provide application approval, financial agreement, and timeline guidance for the Live/Live Virtual CE activity.

Simultaneously with your application submission, you may request an activity financial agreement quote.

The price for each CME activity may vary due to activity type and additional add-on services. Contact the DCPD to discuss course details and activity quote. Provide the following information in your email:

• Activity Title
• Activity Date(s)
• Type of Activity (Live, Enduring, Regularly Scheduled Series). See Activity Types table for additional information.
• Desired credit types. See the available credit types for additional information. Multiple types of credit may be selected for an activity.
• Requested add-on services. See the Add-On Services table.

The financial agreement includes the terms and conditions of certifying the activity for American Medical Associations Physician’s Recognition Award (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™) to ensure compliance. This includes:

• CE Certification Fee: CE application, certification for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, disclosure and management of conflicts of interest, evaluation, outcomes assessment, and learner management.
• Learner Credit Management Fee: credit management and maintenance for 6 years according to the AMA requirement.
• Add-on services as requested. See Add-On Services table for additional information.

Included vs. Add-On Services: Live

• Creating and managing registration is available as an add-on service cost and can be included in the activity financial agreement.
• Income collected from registration fees will be applied to the DCPD service fees laid out in the executed financial agreement, and the remaining balance will be transferred to the designated educational partner account following the close and reconciliation of the activity.

• DCPD may offer up to three (3) email campaigns at no cost for each CE activity but can send additional email campaigns for an additional cost. DCPD uses an email marketing software to design email campaigns that are email and mobile friendly.
• The DCPD database includes learners from past CE activities and campaigns are directed to learners who fit the target audience for the activity. Additional services are available in collaboration with BCM Marketing including use of social media strategies.
• Design promotional plan.
  • Marketing materials such as flyers, webpage, email, etc. that include any CME recognition statement will need to be approved by the CPD coordinator before distribution. The DCPD office may also provide a flyer template upon request.
  • The following elements is required on the marketing material:
    • Activity Title and Date.
    • Needs Statement.
    • Learning Objectives.
    • Target Audience.
    • Educational Methods.
    • Activity Evaluation.
    • Accreditation/Credit Designation.

• Based on the COI disclosure submissions, the DCPD coordinator will identify the individuals with financial relationship(s). The Course Director (or Planning Committee member designated as a proxy and who does not have a financial relationship) will be asked to review the educational content and complete a Content Review form for each presenter.
• If the relevant financial relationship is ownership of or employment with an ineligible company, the individual must be excluded from controlling content or participating as planner or faculty in the accredited education. There are three exceptions to this exclusion where an employee of an ineligible company can participate as a planner or faculty in the following situations:
  1. When the content of the activity is not related to the business lines or products of their employer/company.
  2. When the content of the accredited activity is limited to basic science research, such as pre-clinical research and drug discovery, or the methodologies of research, and they do not make care recommendations.
  3. When they are participating as technicians to teach the safe and proper use of medical devices, and do not recommend whether or when a device is used.

• The activity coordinator will reserve event space directly through the building facility of choice. For conference space at Baylor College of Medicine facilities, refer to the BCM Intranet to contact the room reservation administrators.

• The activity coordinator will reserve audiovisual technical assistance directly through the facility of choice and will manage virtual conference details. Videotaping, audiotaping, transcribing, or other recording of the activity by any party, including the organizers, faculty/presenters, attendees, and/or commercial supporters (even for internal or personal use) is prohibited without prior written approval of the DCPD. Releases must be executed by the activity faculty/presenters. Please collect and submit the CCIT Webcast Recording Use Agreement for each speaker to your DCPD coordinator in advance of the activity.
• For Baylor College of Medicine conferences, all Audiovisual technical assistance (e.g., recording a conference, microphone or projector setup) requests can be submitted at the following link: https://www.bcm.edu/support/audio-video-conference/services-provided.
• For more Audiovisual Conference information, refer to BCM’s Audio/Video Conference page: https://www.bcm.edu/support/audio-video-conference.

Exhibitors for commercial support may be sought by the activity planners. A potential list of exhibitors will need to be provided upon the DCPD coordinator’s request. Agreements with all exhibitors must be provided to the DCPD no later than 10 business days before the activity start date to facilitate the acknowledgement requirement in the educational materials (e.g. handouts).

The activity evaluation:

• Assesses the impact of the educational content and/or CE activity on learners’ knowledge, performance, and/or patient outcomes.
• Measures the likelihood of implementing the learned knowledge into clinical practice.
• An activity evaluation is sent to learners after attending the CE activity; additionally, an outcomes assessment is sent to learners 60 days after attending the CE activity to determine whether changes have been implemented in his/her clinical practice.

The activity evaluation uses the learning objectives developed for the CE activity derived from the CE application. The DCPD coordinator will convert the objectives into knowledge/confidence statements. These statements will be used to evaluate the change in learners’ knowledge before the educational content was presented and after the close of the activity.