The Challenge

Prova Education, a leading provider of continuing medical education programming, wished to create a robust, easy-to-use online Performance Improvement (PI) CME activity that conforms to the AMA PRA Category 1 credit and the Stage A-B-C model. The program was designed to meet the continuing medical education needs of the practicing primary care physician, internal medicine physician, endocrinologist and other physicians and healthcare professionals involved in management of patients with Type 2 diabetes.

The Solution

Working with PROVA's clinical content and CME accreditation experts, we created "Overcoming Obstacles in Achieving Optimal Glycemic Control and Preventing Diabetic Complications" using our EthosCE Learning Management System's Performance Improvement CME module.  EthosCE Performance Improvement Module can be used as a stand-alone application or as part of our EthosCE Professional and Enterprise Editions.  The Web-based performance improvement CME activity guides learners through three distinct steps:

• Stage A: Physicians assess their current performance in an area of practice that might benefit from additional education. The Practice and Self-assessment Surveys assist in determining and documenting the participating physicians’ knowledge, attitudes, guideline adherence, decision-making, practice barriers, and resources related to treating to the Benchmark Goals. A minimum of 10 patient chart reviews is required. Analysis of the responses will be compared to peer data and national benchmarks. These calculations will be based on simple algorithms of the clinician’s responses, displayed in bar charts.

• Stage B: Provides a vast set of resources to help the learner implement their Improvement Plan. Educational activities and resources have been designed to address educational gaps and help you achieve success in managing patients with T2DM. Resources include online lectures, clinical articles, patient-focused materials, expert interviews with renowned diabetes healthcare professionals, and case-based clinical insights. Stage B resources are available upon completion of Stage A.

• Stage C: At 90 to 120 days, the physician is invited back into the PI for Stage C. In this final stage, the effectiveness of the education — the resulting changes — are assessed through the same Self-Assessments used in Stage A. The comparison of data derived in Stage C versus that of Stage A provides evidence of practice improvement.

All aspects of this PI CME have been linked with targeted end points and overarching benchmarks identified by AAFP, ABIM, and NCQA; and in-depth discussions with Brian McDonough, MD, who has implemented a Diabetes PI CME program within his clinical practice.