Continuing medical education credit hours are granted by the AOA from any of 4 categories: 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, or 2-B (
Figure 2). In general, CME credit from Category 1 is osteopathic (ie, AOA-accredited); Category 2 credit is nonosteopathic; type A credit is granted for formal, didactic courses; and type B credit is for less formal CME activities, such as hospital committee work or reading the scientific content in an osteopathic journal approved by the CCME (eg,
JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association) in conjunction with completing the respective CME quiz.
At its February 2003 meeting, the AOA Board of Trustees (BOT) set the CME requirement for AOA membership at 120 credit hours, with a minimum of 30 hours dedicated to earning Category 1-A credits.
2 The remaining 90 hours of the 120-hour requirement may be obtained by combining CME credits earned from any of the 4 credit categories (ie, 1-A, 1-B, 2-A, or 2-B). A maximum of 60 hours of Category 1-B credit for osteopathic preceptoring may be applied to the basic 120-hour requirement. In addition, the AOA, like the American Medical Association (AMA), awards a Certificate of Excellence to physicians who demonstrate exceptional commitments to CME.
1,3 A more detailed description of how CME credit is categorized by the AOA is provided in
Figure 3. As stated in the 2010-2012 CME cycle guide,
1 CME credit is not awarded for volunteer work, postgraduate studies toward advanced degrees, or medical facility tours. No credit is awarded for preceptoring physician assistant students.
As of December 2010, the Division of CME is still recording CME credits for the 2007-2009 CME cycle for those physicians who have not fulfilled their AOA CME requirement. During the 2007-2009 cycle, 37,060 DOs earned Category 1-A credit by attending formal education programs and performing osteopathic medical teaching sponsored by AOA Category 1 CME sponsors, and 24,539 DOs have participated in such activities as “hospital inspections/specialty board examinations,” “hospital committee meetings,” “osteopathic medical teaching/preceptorship,” “other osteopathic CME,” and “scientific papers/publication.”
4 The Division of CME has recorded 11 million credits of AOA Category 1-B credit reported by osteopathic physicians during the 2007-2009 cycle. For the 2010-2012 CME cycle, a total of 5.5 million credits had been recorded as of March 30, 2011.
The CCME considers exemptions, reductions, and waivers to its CME requirements on a case-by-case basis. However, no waiver for this 120-hour requirement will be granted unless due cause or inability to obtain hours are demonstrated to the CCME.
For new AOA physician-members, CME requirements are reduced according to a proration schedule based on the date when the DO joined the AOA after the beginning of a new 3-year CME cycle. For those DOs who have specialty board certification through the AOA, of the total 120-hour requirement for CME credits, 50 hours of either Category 1 or Category 2 credit must be earned in CME activities related to the primary specialty field. However, the total CME requirement for DOs certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians, the American Osteopathic Board of Anesthesiology, and the American Osteopathic Board of Neuromusculoskelectal Medicine is higher, at 150 hours per 3-year CME cycle.
5 Failure to fulfill the AOA's CME requirement may result in loss of AOA specialty board certification.
In recent years, the majority of the CCME's discussions and changes to the CME program have related to this component of member requirements, as further detailed later in the present article.