Vivacity Consulting

Bringing energy and experience to your CME activity

Job Ads & ACCME Criterion 34

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It’s always interesting to see what jobs are open in our profession! Check out the Alliance for CEhp’s list here and notice if there are any elements in the job descriptions that you think your CME team (or yourself) might be missing. If so, that would be an identified gap for the new Commendation Criterion 34, “the provider supports the continuous professional development of its CME team.” 

Next, consider what resources available to fill that gap? Can you attend a local or national conference? Perhaps watch an archived CMEPalooza session? Or is it something that might require a longer course of study or an advanced degree?

Whatever you decide, working to enhance your skills and expertise in the field of CME in a targeted and intentional way can lead to both professional satisfaction and organizational compliance.

Your CME Program and the C-Suite

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Hitting Overall Program Targets with the C-Suite and Other Stakeholders Presentation

Ms. Schwarz will join three other prestigious faculty members on Saturday, January 28th in San Francisco during the Alliance Annual Conference to discuss ways in which we can show our value to our internal stakeholders and collaborate with the C-Suite to influence organizational goals.

This interactive session will include self-reflection about your overall Mission Statement, case study examples of successful C-Suite interactions, and additional discussion of strategies to implement changes in your own organization.

Ms. Schwarz will focus on strategies to draw out critical analysis from your content experts when reviewing overall program data. She will also discuss best practices for using existing data to define goals.

Dr. Erik Brady, PhD, CHCP, Principal Consultant, EDBPhD Consulting, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, will lead the session. The panel will also include Jacqueline Steltz-Lenarsky, MA, Manager, Continuing Medical Education, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, California and Nicholas Testa, MD, Chief Medical Oficer, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, California.

Please join us 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM in the Yerba Buena 1-3 Room.

For more information about the Alliance 2017 Annual Conference, please visit: http://www.acehp.org/p/cm/ld/fid=22

 

SCMEC “Compliant or Not?” Webinar

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Ms. Schwarz presents during “Compliant or Not” Webinar

Ms. Schwarz served as faculty on the first Southern California Medical Education Council (SCMEC) webinar, presented June 14, 2016 and archived on the website (see below). The interactive scenarios may stimulate your own questions. Please contact Vivacity to discuss further!

http://www.scmec.org/conferences/quarterly-meetings/2016-webinar/

Adding Value to Your CME Program: ABIM Part 2 MOC Credits

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CME Providers: Add ABIM Part 2 MOC Credits to Your Program Now

You are already providing high quality medical education to your physician learners. You can now help learners even more by providing required American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) medical knowledge points.

The ABIM requires physicians to obtain 20 medical knowledge points every five years, and must complete at least one MOC activity every two years. Your activities can be adapted to satisfy this requirement.

Over 200,000 physicians in the United States are Board Certified by the ABIM, including internal medicine physicians, and specialists in endocrinology, rheumatology, cardiology, infectious disease, gastroenterology, critical care, medical oncology, and more.

Help your physicians fulfill their requirements by adding ABIM Part 2 MOC credits to your CME program.

Recently, the ABIM have revised requirements so that accredited CME providers may offer education that is eligible for MOC points. This opportunity adds tremendous value to your CME program. 

All regulatory changes require a modified approach to compliance, but the ABIM and ACCME/IMQ have collaborated to minimize the impact upon providers. You probably do not need to make very many changes to the excellent education you are already offering. At the recent IMQ Provider Conference, the ACCME CEO, Dr. Graham McMahon encouraged CME providers to consider adding ABIM Part 2 MOC to their program.

If this will add value to your activities and your organization in the eyes of attendees, but you are not sure how to make this happen, Vivacity Consulting can help. We are seasoned CME professionals with extensive experience working with hospitals, health systems, specialty societies and medical education companies.

Please contact us to learn about our pricing structure. We will assess your program, help you edit your documentation, recommend process improvements, and assist with reporting requirements.

If you are ready to give physicians the credit they deserve for the education you are already providing, contact Vivacity Consulting to help.

You might be interested in the following post as well, entitled, “Who Me, Provide MOC?”

Facilitate teamwork in CME departments

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Your Medical Education Program Can Thrive With Teamwork

Evidence had demonstrated that organizations can dramatically improve the ability to meet its educational mission by actively working to improve the teamwork between physicians, healthcare professionals, quality department leadership, staff and other members of your CME department. However, this challenge can feel monumental when you are facing piles of paperwork.

The famous comedian, Milton Berle, once said, “A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours.” With Vivacity Consulting’s facilitation, your committee or planning group will stay focused and on target.

Through the use of effective communication skills, action items, and project milestones, your group can tackle large tasks like ACCME r IMQ reaccreditation in easy to accomplish sections. These components support or even elevate the group’s accountability ethos, which is key to meeting its goals.

We have experience using different approaches with committees comprised of members in various parts of the world. Working with the International Pediatric Endosurgery Group (IPEG), Ms. Schwarz often coordinated email-based committee meetings with great effectiveness. In other cases where planner groups were small, regular telephone conference calls were helpful to keep the group on-task. Working with the American Head & Neck Society (AHNS) to create a conference comprised of two different target audiences (clinical and research oriented physicians), Ms. Schwarz met in person with the organizers and then multiple times via conference call to ensure the educational content was appropriate and met the stated objectives.

To read more about Vivacity Consulting’s clients, please click here.

Overall Program Review – Spring 2016 CMEPalooza

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Overall Program Review Panel during Spring 2016 CMEPalooza

Many providers struggle when it comes time for reaccreditation with Criterion 12 and 13 (overall program review). Vivacity Consulting recently participated in a panel presentation covering this topic during Spring 2016 CMEPalooza, the free CPD event for CME and CE professionals. The archive is available online now: https://cmepalooza.com/spring-2016/no-hail-marys-required-novel-ways-to-use-data-for-continual-program-assessment/

Panel Description: You’ve heard plenty about activity assessment. We get it, you’ve heard enough about how to assess your activities, and maybe even your curricula, but this session is about program assessment. How do you assess your CE program overall? How do you set yourself up for compliance with Criterion 12? How do you couple that analysis to Criterion 13 and to your Mission statement? Most importantly, how do you assure that you are on target with your overall program? We’ve some ideas on how to set yourself up for ongoing program assessment. 

Panelists
Erik D. Brady, PhD, CHCP, Principal Consultant, EDBPhD Consulting; Director of Graduate Education Programs, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Erin Schwarz, CEO/Principal Consultant, Vivacity Consulting
Jacqueline Steltz-Lenarsky, M.A., Manager of Continuing Medical Education, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center

If your organization is up for reaccreditation or if you are interested in improving the impact of your CME program now, performing an overall program review is a vital first step. Providers often discover both strengths and weaknesses they were not aware of during this process. Vivacity Consulting is available to guide you through this process and facilitate the discussion with your stakeholders. Please Contact us.