Did you know that the California Medical Association (CMA) has developed a small group training to walk you through reporting your physician learners’ continuing medical education (CME) credits? CMA has developed a pilot program where organizations can follow along with CMA and Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) staff as they upload batches of learners. These small group sessions are designed to be interactive, with CME providers bringing learner data that needs to be uploaded into the system. Staff will guide you as you upload your own learners and help you work through any technical issues you might encounter.

We have several slots open for this small group training. Sign up here: Group Session Sign Up. Please only sign up for one date per organization. CMA will reach out to you with confirmation and meeting link. Group sessions will run from November 18 through December 8, 2023. Make sure to have permission from your learners to enter their credit.

In addition to the small group sessions, CMA has developed some resources to help, including a Learner Credit Reporting Quick Start Guide, and an FAQ sheet that includes tips for reporting your learners quickly and efficiently.

Take the first step by getting permission from your learners to report in Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS). Below are examples of permission requests.

1. Example 
   By providing your identifying information you are permitting [name of accredited provider] to share your CME and/or MOC/continuing certification completion information with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) so that it is available to your licensing and, if applicable, your certifying board. You can review your transcript by creating a profile at www.cmepassport.org. Please provide us with the following information: Name; Date of Birth (MM/DD only); Medical License #; and State licensed in.
    
2. Example
   State Medical Board Licensed Physicians Only: Do you give permission for [name of accredited provider] to report your information for credit which will be available to licensing boards?
   
   *[name of accredited provider] will upload this data into the system already used to report activities, ACCME's Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS). Physicians, as well as State Medical Boards that have joined the collaboration, can log into CME Passport to view and verify the CME credit data that has been reported by accredited CME providers for their licensees. The list of participating state medical boards can be found here.

☐Yes           ☐No

If yes, please provide us with the following information: Name; Date of Birth (MM/DD only); Medical License #; and State licensed in.
* Permission language is sample only, and not required to be used. It is an organization’s choice how often permission is given. Permission can be collected by activity, annually or for perpetuity, however, make sure to include how long the permission will be in effect.

Finally, we wanted to make you aware of some incentives to begin entering your learners.

• ACCME Challenge – Enter learner credits for two activities by December 4, 2023, and enter a drawing for free registration to either the ACCME Annual Learn to Thrive or ACCME Workshop in 2024.
• CMA Challenge – Meet the ACCME Challenge and then continue to enter learners into an additional two (for a total of four) activities by March 31, 2024, to enter a drawing for registration at CMA’s 2024 Annual CME Provider Conference or Accreditation Workshop. More information will be shared about these events later this year.

CMA wants you to be successful in this venture; staff are here to help wherever you are in the process.