CME providers may apply for AAFP credit for CME activities that comply with the AAFP Credit System's eligibility requirements. Please note that CME providers won’t formally select an activity type in the credit application. Instead, providers will choose which credit application pathway and session format(s) align with their CME activity type.
Live Activities take place in real time, involving two or more physicians. These activities provide the opportunity for real-time interaction between learners and faculty.
Live activities can be single, series, or multi-site/date.
Single live activity, such as a conference, occurs once over one or more consecutive days, but does not repeat content and is continuous.
Live series activities are a preplanned set of regularly scheduled conferences that occur at one location/institution and relate to a unifying theme under an umbrella title. The intended audience remains the same, and a single learner can attend all sessions within the series.
Live multi-site/date activities are presented at multiple sites and/or on multiple dates. The overall credit amount and the educational content must remain the same for each session.
A KSA activity is facilitated by expert faculty where learners come together to complete the KSA by working through 60 core competency questions by assessing, reviewing, and deciding as a group the best answers. KSA activities are available in the following ways:
Additional requirements for KSA activities are:
More questions on KSA activities? Check out the FAQs.
Enduring materials are defined as activities based on independent learning materials designed primarily as self-study activities. Examples of enduring material activities are:
A single enduring activity such as a recorded webcast, occurs once, but does not repeat content and is continuous.
Enduring material series is a preplanned set of regularly scheduled topics related to a unifying theme under an umbrella title. The intended audience remains the same, and a single learner can complete all sessions within the series.
A medical journal is defined as an activity based on a regularly published collection of articles intended for medical professionals. The participant reads an article, engages in a self-directed phase stipulated by the CME provider that may include reflection, discussion, or debate about the article, and completes a pre-determined set of questions or tasks related to the article content. The maximum number of credits will be based on the number of eligible articles.
Performance Improvement (PI or PICME) CME activities are structured long-term processes, by which physicians learn about specific performance measures, retrospectively assess their practice, apply performance measures prospectively over a useful interval, and reevaluate their performance.
Physicians must integrate all of the following three stages and must begin with Stage A:
Stage A: Learning from current practice performance assessment.
Stage B: Learning from the application of performance improvement to patient care.
Stage C: Learning from the evaluation of the performance improvement effort
PICME activities approved for AAFP credit are also eligible for ABFM Certification Activity points.
More questions on PICME activities? Check out the FAQs.
Point of Care activities are practice-based learning activities that take place in support of specific patient care. The physician uses a computer-based clinical decision-making support tool at the point of care to ask a clinical question, search evidence-based sources for practice recommendations, and apply a recommendation appropriately to the patient.
It is the CME provider's responsibility to ensure that the three parts of the Point of Care learning experience are properly documented There must be a mechanism—either from the source or from the CME provider—to document the following elements:
*Please note that in 2022 the Commission on Continuing Professional Development (COCPD) determined that e-consults do not qualify as a Point of Care activity.
Blended learning is defined as a single educational activity designed for the same learner(s) that is delivered via multiple formats. Blended learning activities are delivered in two or more of the following:
When applying for blended learning, all sessions must be entered during the original credit application submission in order to receive approval of the overall application. The only exception is for multi-site/date sessions. Additional multi-site/date sessions can be added post-submission, if needed.
Repurposed content, such as a live course archived into an enduring material, will not be eligible as a blended learning activity.
Repurposed content reuses all or some elements of an existing educational activity to expand that content’s reach. Repurposed content is typically transformed into a new format and only includes educational content from the original activity, for example, recording a live activity and making it available as an enduring activity to a different audience.
Repurposed content only applies to simple and advanced pathway approved activities with live in-person or online only, live formats that are being repurposed into enduring activities.
Activities that contain educational content that differs from the original approved live activity are not eligible to be repurposed under the Repurposed Content fee and would require a separate application and full application fee.
Denied activities and sessions and Translation to Practice® are not eligible to be repurposed.
Contact AAFP Credit System
cmecredit@aafp.org
(800) 274-2237