Conflict of Interest Policy

As required by the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support, all educational planners, presenters, instructors, moderators, authors, reviewers and other individuals in a position to control or influence the content of an activity must disclose all financial relationships with any commercial interest that have occurred within the past 12 months.  This includes the disclosure of all financial relationships with a commercial interest of a spouse or partner. The ACCME considers financial relationships to create conflicts of interest when individuals have both a financial relationship with a commercial interest and the opportunity to affect the content of CME about the products or services of that commercial interest.  All identified conflicts of interest must be resolved and the educational content vetted for fair balance, scientific objectivity and appropriateness of patient care recommendations.  It is required that disclosure be provided to the learners prior to the start of the activity.  Individuals with no financial relationships must also inform the learners that no financial relationships exist.  Learners must also be informed when off label; experimental/investigational uses of drugs or devices are discussed in an educational activity or included in related materials.¹

¹A commercial interest is any entity producing, marketing, reselling or distributing healthcare goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.  ACCME does not consider providers of clinical service directly to patients to be commercial interests.