Stricter rules linked to shift in CME funding

An annual tally of continuing medical education spending raises concerns that recent federal guidelines may be constricting commercial funding.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. June 27, 2005.

The newly released 2004 Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education annual report showed revenues from two categories, commercial support and advertising and exhibit support, made up 62% of CME providers' total income, down from 65% in 2003.

This is the first percentage decline in at least seven years of annual increases in commercial spending on CME, now a $2 billion industry.

ACCME Chief Executive Officer Murray Kopelow, MD, said commercial support as a percentage may be down, but revenue from the categories driven by commercial funding was $1.26 billion, up $108 million from the previous year. The decline in its percentage of total revenue is simply a function of increases in other areas of funding, such as fees for registration and tuition, Dr. Kopelow said.

However, R. Van Harrison, PhD, CME director for the University of Michigan Medical School, said the decrease hints at a possible sea change in CME funding.

"Continuing medical education funding is essentially flat for the first time in a long time," Dr. Harrison said. "This is due primarily to the impact of the OIG guidance to the pharmaceutical industry and the changes the industry is implementing in response."

The Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General ruled that CME funding that comes from drug and medical device manufacturers' marketing departments was a conflict of interest. In response, companies have either expanded other departments to handle the administration of CME funds or hired companies to distribute the dollars for them.