CME providers to pay more to be monitored
Executive Summary
To finance tighter oversight of continuing medical education programs, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education is phasing in higher accreditation fees over the next three years. Initial increases will occur in 2009, including a special assessment that could be as high as $7,000, depending on an accredited provider's reported expenses. CME is a major component in the debate about industry influence on physicians' prescribing patterns, prompting Pfizer to curtail its support for CME and ACCME to propose limits on industry funding (1"The Pink Sheet," Sept. 29, 2008, p. 18)