Upcoming Dates and Events to Remember:

• Alliance for CME Annual Meeting (January 28-31,2009). NOTE: If you want to schedule a brief work session with any member of the SP&A staff at the Alliance meeting, please contact Kathy Cseke as soon as possible to get on the agenda. Kathy can be reached at cseke@passinassociates.com.

• March 2009 Cohort Decisions Released (week of March 16)

• Upcoming 2009 ACCME Workshops (May 13-15; August 12-13; December 9-10)

• July 2009 ACCME Self Study Cohort Decisions Released (week of July 20)

These useful tools are available for downloading and utilization for your CME Program:

• Orientation to Planning CME in 2009—A primer for course chairs and other planners based on the CME planning document. This useful tool is a way for you to provide all faculty with a required preparation for planning CME. It lets them know what the requirements are that you, as a provider, must meet and their role in the process. This PowerPoint presentation can be tailored and can be transmitted in an auto-play format or transformed into a video. Download is at www.passinassociates.com/downloads/planningcme2009.ppt.

• Preparation Guidance for Taking the CCMEP Exam—This document includes a comprehensive set of readings and guidance to assist you and your staff in preparing to take the next CCMEP exam. It can be downloaded at www.passinassociates.com/downloads/ccmepexamguidance.pdf.

In this column each month, we will include any pearls or other wisdom our clients and colleagues have learned about CME that can be shared. In the spirit of collaboration, we hope that we will have several items to share each month that will inspire others to improve their program.

To provide an item to share, please email our Blog Editor, Denise Doyle, at doyle@passinassociates.com.

Editor’s Note: Judy Sweetnam is on vacation for this edition of The Blog. Stay tuned in next month’s edition to Judy’s article on her experience taking the CCMEP Exam!