American Public Health Association

Center for Learning and Global Public Health

Learning and Professional Development Programs Unit

 

Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Standards for an

Independent, Fair and Balanced 

Continuing Education Institutes or Scientific Sessions

At APHA Annual Meetings

 

Adopted by the 

American Public Health Association

based on the Standards of the Accrediting Bodies

for

Continuing Health Education (CHES) credits;

Continuing Medicine Education (CME) credits; and/or

Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) credits (contact hours)

Overview of APHA Conflict of Interest Policy

 

The accrediting bodies for health education and nursing follow the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s (ACCME) Standards of Commercial Support Resolution of Personal Conflict of Interest. According to the ACCME Standards of Commercial Support (approved September 2004), a conflict of interest is present when individuals in a position to control the content of CE have a relevant personal financial relationship with a commercial entity that benefits the individual and may ultimately bias the presentation of that content to colleagues and participants.  Guidelines for the management and reporting of conflicts for a continuing education program/activity are required by the accrediting bodies for health education, medicine and nursing.  The APHA abides by these Guidelines and recognizes that compliance with them is essential for retaining accreditation status and for promoting high quality, unbiased educational opportunities. Since fair, unbiased education serves as part of the foundation for development of quality CE needs to identify affiliations that have the following elements:

 

both:

·       a relevant financial relationship with a commercial interest occurring within the past 12 months

 

and:

·       the opportunity to affect the content of CE about the products or services of that commercial interest.

 

Conflict of Interest Purpose: This disclosure form provides a standardized mechanism for identification, review and analysis of relevant financial relationship(s) that may affect the independence, integrity and scientific balance of CE programs/activities designated for credit by APHA.

 

Commercial Support Purpose: A continuing education program/activity is for scientific and educational purposes only and is not to promote a commercial interest.  The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) defines a ‘commercial interest as any proprietary entity producing health care goods or services, with the exemption of non-profit or government organizations and non-health care related companies’. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc., also adopt this definition and the Standards for implementation. (See website: www.accme.org.)

 

Background: When APHA provides a health education, medicine and nursing continuing education program/activity, the Association does not accept commercial funding for the educational component, however commercial goods such as equipment or supplies may be required as part of the teaching/learning strategies.  No commercial interest is included in the educational planning, implementation or evaluation, including but not limited to, identifying target audience learning needs, educational objectives, content, adult learning strategies/methods of presentation, and evaluation. No commercial interest may influence or control the selection of the planners, presenters, moderators or other persons involved in the educational part of a program/activity.  

 

Acceptance, Review and Oversight of the Educational Program/Activity: When APHA provides a health education, medicine and/or nursing continuing education program/activity, APHA planners must participate in the approval process.  No commercial entity may condition its support on a promise of influence or control on the educational content.

 

Managing Commercial Support for Planners, Presenters, Authors, Employees or Volunteers: APHA has a policy for its Annual Meeting that it does not accept any commercial support for its Continuing Education Program including the APHA Learning Institute and Scientific Sessions. The APHA does receive commercial support for other types of events during the Annual Meeting.  No unapproved commercial support funds may be given to an individual for one’s role as a planner, moderator, presenter or organizer. APHA may not use commercial support to pay for an individual’s expenses in the role of a CE participant learner. When an individual holds more than one role in a program/activity, commercial support and conflict of interest are accessed for each role or each presentation.

 

A commercial entity may suggest presenters or authors, but it must provide more than one.  For each suggestion it must submit personal qualifications, a completed APHA Conflict of Interest form, and disclose any and all relationships that it may have with those it suggests. The selection must be based on fair and balanced independence for the educational content and be free of any influence from a commercial entity. No commercial entity may condition its support on the selection of presenters, authors or planners.

Educational Content and Teaching Strategies/Methods – Fair and Balanced Objectivity:

Planners for a continuing education program/activity must make every effort to ensure that content including data regarding commercial products (or competing products) are objectively selected and presented. Both favorable and unfavorable information should be presented in a fair and balanced approach. The program/activity should include relevant disclosure of limitations on the content, research design, or data, e.g., ongoing research, interim analyses or preliminary data, applications to specific populations or environments, or unsupported opinion.

 

Medications should be discussed by generic names rather than brand name unless no generic is available in which case this must be acknowledged to the participant learners.  Prevailing information on commercial product(s), alternative treatments or other types of services must be brought into the education. Ideally, there will be opportunities for discussion, questions and answers, or scientific debate.

 

Promotional Activities and Materials: No promotional activities, product advertisements or goods with product names will be permitted in the same room or obligate path immediately before, during, or after an educational program/activity.  No representatives of commercial interests may engage in commercial or promotional activities while in the space or room of an educational activity.

 

The educational presentation may not, in any way, include product-advertisement or promotion.  There will be no “scripting”, emphasis, or influence on content by a commercial entity or its agents. Materials that are part of an educational activity such as slides, abstracts, handouts, may not contain advertising, trade names, product-group messages or the like.  

 

A commercial entity may not condition its support on terms that it will receive special treatment for a specific location of its commercial exhibits or advertisements, if such treatment may directly or indirectly influence the planning or interfere with presentations. 

 

Off-Label of Experimental Use or Products or Services: Any off-label or experimental use (clinical trials) of a product or service must be disclosed to participant learners.