Once a CME provider has identified their CME activity type and has confirmed that their CME activity meets the AAFP Credit System’s requirements, then they can move forward with submitting an online credit application.
When applying for credit, providers will start by selecting the credit application pathway that aligns with their CME activity. There are three pathway options to choose from:
Simple Pathway—Designed for a single activity occurring once over one or more consecutive days, but does not repeat content, and is continuous.
Advanced Pathway—Designed for a pre-planned set of activities that cover various topics that relate to a unifying theme, or activities with repeated content (multi-site only). Providers must enter at least one session when submitting an advanced pathway credit application. The remainder of the sessions must be entered, as the information becomes available, in order to gain approval for each session. CME providers may add additional sessions and check their statuses by logging into the CME provider dashboard online and accessing the Activity Summary page of an application.
ALSO/BLSO Pathway—Designed for Basic and Advanced Life Support courses developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians and hosted by CME provider organizations.
The following chart may be helpful in determining which application pathway to select based on the structure of your CME activity. For further guidance on selecting the correct application pathway review the application pathway tree. If your activity structure is not reflected, or you're unsure which pathway aligns with your activity, then please call us at (800) 274-2237.
| ACTIVITY TYPES | SIMPLE PATHWAY |
ADVANCED PATHWAY |
ALSO/BLSO PATHWAY |
| Designed for a single activity occurring once over one or more consecutive days, but does not repeat content, and is continuous. | Designed for a pre-planned set of activities that cover various topics that relate to a unifying theme, or activities with repeated content (multi-site/date only). | Designed for ALSO courses, ALSO instructor courses, and BLSO courses. | |
| LIVE | X Examples include a single live conference, training, or webinar |
X Examples include a live series or live multi-site/date |
X Single live courses only |
| KNOWLEDGE SELF-ASSESSMENT (KSA), LIVE | X Single live KSA |
X KSA Multi-Site or a Single Live activity with a KSA add on |
___ |
| ENDURING MATERIALS | X Examples include a single enduring webcast or monograph |
X Examples include an enduring series of videos or monographs |
___ |
| MEDICAL JOURNALS | ___ | X | ___ |
| PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT | X | ___ Unless part of a blended learning activity |
___ |
| POINT OF CARE | X | ___ Unless part of a blended learning activity |
___ |
| BLENDED LEARNING | ___ | X | ___ |
Once an application pathway has been selected, and the credit application has been started, CME providers will need to submit sessions for the session formats included within the CME activity. For each session, you must include titles and topic-specific learning objectives for all content covered within the session. For Performance Improvement and Point of Care, you must describe how you will guide a learner through each stage/step of the process. The session formats are:
Confused about the difference between in person live vs. online live formats? Learn more.
Learn more about credit calculation and credit terms.