Conflict Resolution

Facing an audience of more than 150 medical education providers and pharma company executives waiting for his session, Murray Kopelow, chief executive of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), did an admirable job of assuaging the audience's distress over an ACCME staff-written Q&A (released a few weeks before the conference) that attempted to clarify stipulations of the organization's newly updated "Standards for Commercial Support (SCS)." At the end of his presentation, even the most belligerent attitudes seemed tamed. Comments excerpted from Kopelow's formal presentation and the subsequent questions are presented. He said the new standards are a key part of ACCME's overall strategy to ensure the credibility and validity of CME. It is important that the best and brightest are teaching and that CME is independent of commercial interests. Transparency through disclosures is a large part of the credibility of CME.