RESTON, Va., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- iMedOptions, a leader in the development of innovative interactive medical education programs for healthcare professionals, today announced its support of the new ACCME standards for commercial support.
At the end of September 2004, the seven member organizations of the ACCME unanimously approved the 2004 Updated ACCME Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure the Independence of CME. Yesterday, the ACCME issued additional guidance and clarification regarding “peer review” and referencing the “best available evidence” to help entities involved in medical education understand how to operationalize the new standards.
“We are pleased to see that the ACCME has taken these steps to ensure dissemination of important and cutting edge medical education without commercial bias,” said Jeffrey L. Drezner, M.D., Ph.D., iMedOptions’ chief executive officer and founder. “We believe these standards and the additional clarification move CME to the highest level of rigor and we’re pleased that the ACCME has continued to show its interest in collaborating with the industry to find policies and procedures that facilitate compliance.”
The new ACCME guidelines are important as they provide CME providers a means to resolve any potential conflicts of interest. “Medical education programs and models that incorporate rigorous, unbiased peer review, such as those provided by iMedOptions, already subscribe to this philosophy,” says Peter Frishauf, founder of Medscape, now the professional online portal of WebMD (HLTH) and the immediate past president of the Healthcare Marketing & Communications Council. “Peer review is a time-tested means of vetting content and creating enduring material that is balanced, provocative, and in the best interests of both physicians and patients.”
iMedOptions creates and publishes the most innovative and clinically useful interactive medical education programs for healthcare professionals through its Clinical Care Options branded programs. Utilizing authors and advisory board members who are renowned experts in their fields, in addition to world class editors, the Clinical Care Options programs represent the highest quality content found anywhere on the web, in print, on CD or at live meetings.
“Through these models, iMedOptions has been implementing the types of peer review educational programs outlined by the new ACCME guidelines for the last several years,” added Drezner.
About iMedOptions
iMedOptions, the leader in the development of innovative interactive medical education programs for healthcare professionals, creates and publishes original CME and information resources that translate the latest developments in science and medicine to treatment options. Utilizing specialty-specific advisory boards comprised of renowned experts, iMedOptions develops exceptional editorial content for its proprietary state-of-the-art technology and distributes it online via its own specialty portals in HIV, hepatitis and oncology/hematology. In addition to its industry-leading Web-based programs, iMedOptions disseminates the latest in medical treatment through live meetings, including the 15th Annual Clinical Care Options for HIV Symposium, and through print materials. For more information about the company and its programs, visit its World Wide Web site at http://www.imedoptions.com/.
iMedOptions
CONTACT: Vincent Keane of iMedOptions, +1-970-209-1961, orvkeane@imedoptions.com
Web site: http://www.imedoptions.com/