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Home Research External Collaborations Policy on Industry Support of Components of Family Medicine Certification Policy on Industry Support of Components of Family Medicine Certification APPROVED BY THE ABFM BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON APRIL 28, 2008 Last AMENDED ON October 03, 2017 As an organization accountable to the public, the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) feels that further elucidation and expansion of our current policy on industry support of the development of components for Family Medicine Certification (FMC) is in order to decrease public concerns about potential industry influence. Therefore, we propose the following updated Policy on Industry Support of Components of Family Medicine Certification 1) The ABFM reaffirms current board policy of not accepting industry support for any FMC component developed by the ABFM. 2) We will consider proposals for FMC components developed by: Academia Medical specialty societies Other ABMS specialty boards Medical Groups Health Plans Hospitals Quality Improvement Organizations Federal agencies Non-industry related nonprofit organizations ACCME accredited CME Providers (Practice Improvement CME (PICME) providers only) 3) Components that are directly or indirectly funded by, supported by in-kind donations, or developed by or in conjunction with employees/representatives of medical drug and device manufacturers will not be considered. 4) Industry support may not be used to support honoraria for faculty or the expenses of faculty participating in the development or delivery of any FMC related activities. 5) Industry support may be used to support the delivery of FMC related activities (e.g., marketing, publicity, IT support, etc.) by the sponsoring organization. In instances where industry support has been used by a sponsoring organization to support the delivery of an FMC activity, the organization must provide a statement on any materials that are used in association with or to promote the activity that clearly delineates what specifically has been supported and clearly states that no support has been provided for the development of content, expenses of faculty, or faculty honoraria. (Suggested statement: “[Name of Company] has provided support for the [the specific activity supported {e.g., marketing, publicity, IT support, etc.}] of this program. No support has been received for the development of the content or the expenses and honoraria of faculty associated with this activity.”) Additionally, the logo of the company that has sponsored the delivery of the activity may not be used on any materials related to the activity. 6) Externally developed FMC performance improvement activities should include quality measures that are approved by the AQA, NQF, CMS, NCQA, the AMA Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, or the ABFM. 7) In addition to review by ABFM staff (and the Certification Committee, if necessary) for compatibility with other ABFM standards, all externally developed FMC Self-Assessment and Performance Improvement Activity components will undergo a rigorous peer review process by the ABFM for subtle bias toward any individual or class of medical drug or device, or bias toward interventional treatment when alternative treatments (i.e., lifestyle) are an equally evidence-based, quality option. 8) This prospective policy applies to all new external component FMC designations starting January 23, 2008. Previously approved internal and external components are exempt from this policy. However, industry support may not be used to revise, refresh, or update the content of FMC components produced with industry support prior to the approval of this policy on April 28, 2008, and thereby previously exempted from this policy. 9) The ABFM may, at a future date, develop stricter policies regarding industry involvement in externally developed FMC components, based upon the then-current menu of approved activities and changes in the regulatory and CME environments. 10) This policy will be reviewed at least on an annual basis. APPROVED BY THE ABFM BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON APRIL 28, 2008 AMENDED ON APRIL 19, 2010 AMENDED DOCUMENT APPROVED BY THE ABFM BOARD OF DIRECTORS OCTOBER 3, 2017 DOWNLOAD THE ABFM INDUSTRY SUPPORT POLICY
