Compliance Guidelines for Virtual Educational Activities

Has your in-person meeting been canceled leaving you with the decision of whether or not to “pivot to virtual?” If yes, read on to be sure you are familiar with the CPME requirements for online educational activities.

The most important piece to grasp is the difference between an Internet Live Activity and Instructional Media.

CPME Standard 9.0 in document 720 updated October 2019 (takes effect July 1, 2020) is somewhat unclear when it comes to these two methods. However, the CPME did publish a couple of helpful resources to clarify the difference. They define an Internet Live Activity as an activity that is available for CECH online while it is live-streaming. Once the event has taken place, learners may no longer participate in the activity. Alternately, Instructional Media can consist of various types of online education, but for our purposes, it’s referring to a recorded webinar available on-demand.

Once you understand that live is different than recorded, familiarize yourself with the different requirements for each. A Live Activity requires a post-event evaluation (survey of attendees), attendance verification(s) during the event, and of course, no commercial bias or advertising. Instructional Media requires a post-event evaluation, a post-assessment (quiz of material for attendees) with a passing score, and of course no commercial influence. It does not require attendance verifications.

Note that instructional media should be reviewed and updated as often as necessary, but at least every 3 years. I recommend not using the same media for more than 3 years as the medical community and methods change so quickly.

Standard 9.0 goes into more detail about what is required to be communicated to learners prior to the activity and what to include in the evaluation.

<< View the October 2019 version of document 720 here >>

<< View Instructional Media vs. Live Activity communication here >>

<< CPME Guidance March 18, 2020 >>

The information provided by Clover Conferences, LLC or Ann Dosen on www.cloverconferences.com or via email is for general informational purposes only. All information is provided in good faith, however, we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information we provide. Basically, we are not responsible if you take our advice and it doesn’t go well for you.

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