Over the past year or two, we have written several times about the economic and practical difficulties both continuing medical education (CME) providers and physicians are having.? For example, commercial support for CME decreased by 11.1%, by $93,776,050 less than 2010.? Commercial support now represents 32% of the total CME funding, down from 46% of total funding in 2007.?
With commercial funding of CME dropping by hundreds of millions of dollars in the past four years, there has been fewer grant dollars available, the number of providers has fallen, and there are fewer hours of instruction being produced.?
Moreover, the impact on the decrease of commercial support of CME has affected hospitals, state-accredited CE providers, universities, and even the federal government.? For instance, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that its Continuing Education Office (CHE) will be disestablished in FY12.? Similarly, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, decided to close its CME Office on campus, as a result of state budget reductions.??
Now, the rising costs of continuing education for medical professionals have prompted the Shawnee County Community Health Center, in Topeka, Kansas, to request a new policy.? The Shawnee County Commission will consider the revised policy at an upcoming meeting.? The current Credit for Medical Education policy was passed in July 2006.?
According to the Topeka Captial Journal, the proposed revisions call for an additional $620 to be added to four employee classifications ? medical director, physicians, advanced practice registered nurses and physicians assistants ? for continuing medical education costs.?
Only eight employees qualify for the benefits, bringing the total increase to $4,960, said Alice Weingartner, director of the Community Health Center.?
The credits are necessary to maintain licensure and organization membership and will help the county health agency and community health center retains quality health care providers, a memo in the meeting?s agenda packet states.?
The policy also outlines days the positions are allowed for continuing education ? 10 for the medical director and seven for the other positions ? however, those amounts aren?t different than the current policy, Weingartner said.?
The health center also has asked the county commission for authority to replace the Health Services Team Leader position with another registered nurse for the Primary Care program. The team leader position recently became vacant because of a retirement, Weingartner said.?
The change would result in a lower salary. The team leader had a starting wage of $19.03, while an RN starts at $17.07, according to a memo.
The health center also wants to create, open and fill a part-time program medical assistant position. The salary for the position would range from $10,021 to $16,075, Weingartner said.?
The union-based position would include ordering, stocking and rotating medical supplies, cleaning and maintaining medical equipment and processing correspondence, among other responsibilities.?
Discussion?
With recent surveys showing a decline in the quality of CME; that physicians are paying more for CME; and physicians are spending more time and effort locating appropriate CME, this news is troublesome.? Moreover, with the number of accredited providers in states dwindling, and more economic woes from industry and the overall economic status of America, it is likely that more towns and cities may face similar difficulties.? This is just one example of how commercial support, used by accredited CME providers, can fill in the gap for small towns, to ensure patients receive the most up-to-date treatment and care.?
Source: http://www.policymed.com/2012/10/topeka-kansas-considering-city-funds-for-local-cme.html
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