Continuing Medical Education (CME) Requirements
Physicians are still required to collect at least 100 hours of Category 1 credit in a 4 year period to maintain licensure. Although the Medical Board of California does not require your CME to be in your specialty, most hospitals and specialty organizations do.
Pain Management & End of Life
All physicians, with the exception of Pathologists and Radiologists, have to collect a total of 12 hours of CME on the topics of "Pain Management" and the "Treatment of Terminally Ill & Dying Patients". The 12 units may be divided in any way that is relevant to the physician's specialty and practice setting. The Medical Board of California has more information.
The AMA website also has a section on Pain Management: AMA: Pain Management.
Geriatric CME
All general internists and family physicians who have a patient population of which over 25% are 65 years of age or older, shall complete at least 20 percent of all mandatory CME hours in a course in the field of geriatric medicine or the care of older patients. That translates to mean that physicians need about 5 hours a year on topics relating mostly to geriatrics. This, unlike the pain management/terminally ill CME requirement, is not a one-time requirement, but an ongoing requirement.
Radiology Fluoroscopy CME
Physicians who have fluoroscopy licenses are required to earn 10 approved credits to renew a certificate or permit every two years.
WAYS TO GET CME CREDIT ONLINE:
GSH Subscriptions
Good Samaritan Hospital has a number of medical journal and database subscriptions that offer free CME credits from hospital networked computers.
Archives of Internal Medicine
Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery
Cleveland Clinic of Medicine
JAMA
New England Journal of Medicine
MDConsult* database: Click on the CME tab. FREE Internet Point of Care CME credit is provided by the Cleveland Clinic Center for Continuing Education for self-directed, structured, online learning. Physicians may earn 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ for each search conducted through MD Consult. Cyberounds® are interactive grand rounds moderated by distinguished academics, exclusively for physicians, medical students, and other selected health professionals. (the first five Cyberounds conferences submitted are free.)
* register for offsite access.
Member Association CME
Remember that a number of CME opportunities can be accessed through member association websites. These are just a few…
American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
American College of Emergency Physicians
American Medical Association
American Pharmacist's Association
Other CME Links
Medscape CME
Physician's Weekly
Audio-Digest Foundation
CME Web
Andrea Harrow, MLS, is available at 213.977-2323 or cme@goodsam.org