Continuing Physician Professional Development

National meeting on CME provider-industry collaboration set for Oct.

"Forces Shaping the Future of CME Collaboration: Solutions for Harnessing the Positive and Mitigating the Negative" is the theme for the 23rd Annual Conference of the National Task Force on CME Provider/Industry Collaboration, Oct. 10-12 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront.

The conference will focus on four significant forces that impact CME provider and industry collaboration:

• Cost constraints
• Quality improvement
• Risk evaluation and mitigation strategy
• Maintenance of certification

J. David Haddox, DDS, MD, vice president of Health Policy at Purdue Pharma L.P., will present the keynote address about the forces shaping the complex environment in which CME providers and industry operate and how they may affect future collaboration and the quality of CME.

The Shickman Lecture—presented annually to honor the late Martin D. Shickman, MD, a leader in tying CME to quality patient care—will be presented by Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Registration for the conference will open on June 15.

As more physicians seek to re-enter clinical practice, FSMB adopts new policy

State medical licensing boards should develop standardized processes for physicians seeking re-entry to the clinical practice of medicine after a significant leave of absence, according to new policy from the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB).

The FSMB policy is based on a report of the FSMB's Special Committee on Reentry to Practice, which developed 12 re-entry guidelines to provide medical boards with a framework of common standards and conceptual processes. The guidelines include:

• Education and communication issues
• Determining fitness to reenter practice
• Mentoring practitioners who want to reenter the workforce
• Improving regulation of licensed practitioners who are clinically inactive
• The relationship between licensure and specialty certification

"For a variety of reasons, including the economic downturn, many state boards are reporting an increasing number of physicians seeking to reenter clinical practice," said Humayun Chaudhry, DO, president and chief executive officer of the FSMB. "Helping these physicians get back to patient care in an efficient manner, within a framework that ensures public protection, could provide an additional flow of physicians to help ease our national shortage."

The AMA held a conference on physician re-entry in May 2010, in collaboration with the FSMB and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), to develop recommendations for a coordinated national approach to re-entry. In addition, AMA policy calls for a physician re-entry system that is:

• accessible
• collaborative
• comprehensive
• ethical
• flexible
• modular
• innovative
• accountable
• stable
• responsive

News and notes

• Study: Majority of physicians (84 percent) prefer online CME for "on-demand" access and avoidance of travel hassles, costs (American Medical News).
• Racial, gender disparities in surgery board certification (HealthLeaders Media).
• "Relationships Between Physicians and Industry: Initiatives to Recognize and Manage Conflicts of Interest," audio teleconference hosted by the Association for Hospital Medical Education, June 12, 1 p.m. Eastern.