| Accredited CPD is Scientifically Valid |
- Standard 1.1: All recommendations for patient care in accredited CPD must be based on current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning, while giving a fair and balanced view of diagnostic and therapeutic
options.
- Standard 1.2: All scientific research referred to, reported, or used in accredited CPD in support or justification of a patient care recommendation must conform to the generally accepted standards of
experimental design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
- Standard 1.3: Although accredited CPD is an appropriate place to discuss, debate, and explore new and evolving topics, these areas need to be clearly identified as such within the programme and individual presentations. It is the responsibility of accredited providers to facilitate engagement with these topics without advocating for, or promoting, practices that are not (yet) adequately based on current science,
evidence, and clinical reasoning.
- Standard 1.4: Organisations cannot be accredited providers if they advocate for unscientific approaches to diagnosis or therapy, or if CPD promotes recommendations, treatment, or manners of practicing healthcare that are determined to have risks or dangers that outweigh the
benefits or are known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients.
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| Accredited CPD is independent and free from all sales and marketing messages. |
- Standard 2.1: The accredited provider must ensure that all decisions related to the planning, educator selection, delivery, and evaluation of accredited CPD are made without any influence or involvement from the
owners and employees of an ineligible company.
- Standard 2.2: Accredited CPD must be free of marketing or sales of products or services. Educators must not actively promote or sell products or services that serve their professional or financial interests during accredited CPD activities.
- Standard 2.3: The accredited provider must not share the names or contact information of learners with any ineligible company or its agents
without the explicit consent of the individual learner.
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| The accredited provider must identify, mitigate, and disclose relevant financial relationships for all individuals involved in control of accredited CPD activity content. |
- Standard 3.1: If the content of the CPD includes clinical topics, the accredited provider must collect information from all planners, educators, and others in control of educational content about all their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. There is no minimum financial threshold; individuals must
disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies. Individuals must disclose regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education.
Disclosure information must include:
a. The name of the ineligible company with which the person has a financial relationship.
b. The nature of the financial relationship. Examples of financial relationships include employee, researcher, consultant, advisor, speaker, independent contractor (including contracted research), royalties or patent beneficiary, executive role, and ownership interest. Individual stocks and stock options should be disclosed; diversified mutual funds do not need to be disclosed. Research funding from ineligible companies should be disclosed by the principal or named investigator even if that individual’s institution receives the research grant and manages the funds.
- Standard 3.2: For each accredited CPD activity, the accredited provider must review the information about financial relationships to identify individuals who are owners or employees of ineligible companies. These individuals must be excluded from controlling content or participating as planners or educators in accredited education.
There are three exceptions to this exclusion—employees of ineligible companies can participate as planners or educators in these specific situations:
a. When the content of the activity is not related to the business lines or products of their employer/company.
b. When the content of the accredited activity is limited to basic science research, such as preclinical research and drug discovery, or the methodologies of research and they do not make care recommendations.
c. When they are participating as technicians to teach the safe and proper use of medical devices, and do not recommend whether or when a device is used.
- Standard 3.3: For each accredited CPD activity, the accredited provider must review the information about financial relationships to determine which relationships are relevant. Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
- Standard 3.4: Mitigate relevant financial relationships: Take steps to prevent all those with relevant financial relationships from inserting commercial bias into content.
a. Mitigate relationships prior to the individuals assuming their roles. Take steps appropriate to the role of the individual. For example, steps for planners will likely be different than for educators and would occur before planning begins.
b. Document the steps taken to mitigate relevant financial relationships.
- Standard 3.5: For each accredited CPD activity, the accredited provider must disclose all relevant financial relationships to learners.
Disclosure to learners must include each of the following:
a. The names of the individuals with relevant financial relationships.
b. The names of the ineligible companies with which they have relationships.
c. The nature of the relationships.
d. A statement that all relevant financial relationships have been mitigated.
Identify ineligible companies by their name only.
i. Disclosure to learners must not include ineligible companies’ corporate or product logos, trade names, or product group messages.
ii. Disclose absence of relevant financial relationships. Inform learners about planners, educators, and others in control of content (either individually or as a group) with no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.
iii. Learners must receive disclosure information, in a format that can be verified at the time of accreditation, before engaging with the accredited education.
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An accredited CPD activity can receive financial or in- kind support (“commercial support”) from ineligible companies and
must manage the commercial support appropriately |
- Standard 4.1: Decision-making and disbursement of commercial support: The accredited provider must make all decisions regarding the receipt and disbursement of the commercial support.
a. Ineligible companies must not pay directly for any of the expenses related to the education or the learners.
b. The accredited provider may use commercial support to fund honoraria or travel expenses of planners, educators, and others in control of content for those roles only.
c. The accredited provider must not use commercial support to pay for travel, lodging, honoraria, or personal expenses for individuals or groups of learners in accredited education.
d. The accredited provider may use commercial support to defray or eliminate the cost of the education for all learners.
- Standard 4.2: Agreement: The terms, conditions, and purposes of the commercial support must be documented in an agreement between the ineligible company and the accredited provider. The agreement must be executed prior to the start of the accredited education. An accredited provider can sign onto an existing agreement between an accredited provider and a commercial supporter by indicating its acceptance of the terms, conditions, and amount of commercial support it will receive.
- Standard 4.3: Accountability: The accredited provider must keep a record of the amount or kind of commercial support received and how it was used, and must produce that accounting, upon request, by the accrediting body or by the ineligible company that provided the commercial support.
- Standard 4.4: Disclosure to learners: The accredited provider must disclose to the learners the name(s) of the ineligible company(ies) that gave the commercial support, and the nature of the support if it was in-kind, prior to the learners engaging in the education. Disclosure must not include the ineligible companies’ corporate or product logos, trade names, or product group messages.
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| Accredited CPD activity educational content must be separate from marketing by ineligible companies, including advertising, sales, exhibits, or promotion. |
- Standard 5.1: Arrangements to allow ineligible companies to market or exhibit in association with accredited education must not:
a. Influence any decisions related to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of the education.
b. Interfere with the presentation of the education.
c. Be a condition of the provision of financial or in-kind support from ineligible companies for the education.
- Standard 5.2: The accredited provider must ensure that learners can easily distinguish between accredited education and other activities.
a. Live continuing education activities: Marketing, exhibits, and nonaccredited education developed by or with influence from an ineligible company or with planners or educators with unmitigated financial relationships must not occur in the educational space within 30 minutes before or after an accredited education activity. Activities that are part of the event but are not accredited for continuing education must be clearly labelled and communicated as such.
b. Print, online, or digital continuing education activities:
Learners must not be presented with marketing while engaged in the accredited education activity. Learners must be able to engage with the accredited education without having to click through, watch, listen to, or be presented with product promotion or product-specific advertisement.
c. Educational materials that are part of accredited education (such as slides, abstracts, handouts, evaluation mechanisms, or disclosure information) must not contain any marketing produced by or for an ineligible company, including corporate or product logos, trade names, or product group messages.
d. Information distributed about accredited education that does not include educational content, such as schedules and logistical information, may include marketing by or for an
ineligible company
- Standard 5.3: Ineligible companies may not provide access to, or distribute, accredited education to learners.
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| Learners must be informed of who is responsible for the CPD activity and its accreditation. |
- Standard 6.1: The accreditation statement must appear on CPD activity materials and brochures distributed by accredited providers.
- Standard 6.2: Learners must receive this information before engaging with the accredited CPD activity.
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