The questions below summarize Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) policies on the use of brand names in CME activities.
Yes. ACCME policies do not prohibit providers from using brand names in the context of CME activities.
The expectation is that, for all CME activities, accredited providers will ensure they:
- give a fair and balanced view of diagnostic and therapeutic options, and
- will be free of marketing or sales of products or services, even in situations where a brand name is a common name for a specific product or class of product.
At Medical Academy, when reviewing materials as joint providers, we use two strategies for meeting ACCME requirements:
- using generic names
- using multiple names where possible
Further Reading
- ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education:
Tips From Leaders in CME Planning
Myth: The activity or course chair must fill out the CME activity planning form.
Reality: While many accredited providers use a planning document to ensure all areas of activity planning and documentation are addressed, you have great flexibility in how you capture this information.
Myth: An accredited provider is required to publish learning objectives with at least one objective for each topic within an activity, and must provide documentation of the published objectives to the ACCME.
Reality: While learners should be able to discern the purpose of an educational activity to ensure it will meet their needs, there is no accreditation criterion that requires learning objectives, let alone requires a specific number of them or that they be published or reported to the ACCME.
Myth: The ACCME requires that learners complete an evaluation form following every activity.
Reality: There are many ways in which an accredited CME provider can evaluate learner outcomes. These do not include the explicit completion of a written evaluation or survey.
Myth: An accredited CME provider must collect a new disclosure from an individual for each and every activity in which that individual is in control of content.
Reality: Accredited providers can share a