I manage the education for an association that has 180 courses, 35 symposia presentations, 510 paper presentations, more than 500 poster exhibits, and 80 scientific exhibits. As you can imagine, this adds up to thousands of authors, presenters...

THIS YEAR'S HEALTHCARE Convention & Exhibitors Association Annual Meeting, held June 4 to 7 in New Orleans, boasted a whopping 70 increase in educational sessions, focusing on the latest developments in exhibit management. Since it's important...

Imagine if doctors could find and eliminate cancer cells before a tumor develops, implant a pump the size of a molecule to deliver medication exactly where it is needed in a patient's body, or remove the broken part of a cell and replace it with a...

SINCE MAY 1, PEOPLE in CME Land have been talking about the implementation of the updated Standards for Commercial Support, particularly the resolution of conflicts of interest (COI). Asking course directors, instructors, planners, and CME...

The push is on to determine if the copious dollars expended to fund CME programs nationally actually translate to better patient care. The buzz phrase in the CME world these days is “outcomes measurement,” i.e., the role continuing medical...

The Permanente Medical Group of the Kaiser Permanente health plan organization, which operates in nine states and Washington, D.C., recently updated its conflict-of-interest policy for its more than 5,000 Northern California physicians to make it...

CME IS ON THE FEDERAL radar screen once again. This time the U.S. Senate is investigating pharma companies' educational grants, including funding for CME. In June, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Max Baucus (D-Montana) sent letters to...

The American Academy of Family Physicians, Leawood, Kan., did something a little different this year with its eight-year-old Annual Clinical Focus educational initiative — it was done entirely through video-streaming on the Web. In previous years...

WHILE THERE IS nothing inherently wrong in developing CME activities supported by one company — and this funding model should and will continue — CME support by several companies elevates standards of independence, objectivity, and balance to a...

I DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER to laugh, cry, or bang my head against the wall after most of the interviews I did for this issue's cover story (see page 38). Are we really looking at just a few bad apples, or has the whole barrel gone rotten on us when it...