Letter of Agreement between the Division of Clinical Medicine
and the Office of Continuing Professional Development and Evaluation Studies (CPDE)
The (Division) requests that the Office of Continuing Professional Development and Evaluation Studies (CPDE)
provides consultative, program planning, and administrative services for the 2007 11th Annual Virginia
Symposium and Update to be held at a site TBD in Richmond, Virginia during the month of XXXX. Program
planning responsibilities will rest primarily with the CPDE program planning staff in consultation with Program
Chair, and any others he may designate as a Conference Planning Committee (Committee).
I. CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
CPDE will:
▪ adhere to all applicable ACCME Essentials and Guidelines1, and the Standards for
Commercial Support2 (and monitor the adherence of the Committee to those
regulations;
▪ Provide program planning services, such as hotel contract negotiation, managing
hotel and food and beverage services, speaker and staff travel and lodging
arrangements, brochure development, printing, marketing, production of instructional
materials, coordination of audiovisual and other contractual services, and payment of
faculty honoraria and travel expenses, etc.;
▪ Convene, facilitate, and document program planning meetings for this activity;
▪ in conjunction with the Committee, document the educational needs for this activity;
▪ provide liaison to the Program Chairman (PC), The Division and invited speakers to
develop an agenda and learning objectives;
▪ coordinate with the PC & invited speakers to develop and produce instructional
materials;
▪ develop all promotional and instructional materials;
▪ receive and process all registrations;
▪ develop activity evaluation form;
▪ provide a preliminary budget for this activity, as well as monitor revenue and expenses
throughout the program planning process;
▪ provide financial management for the entire activity, including payment of up-front
1
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education Essentials and Guidelines for Accreditation of Sponsors of
Continuing Medical Education ( www.accme.org )
2
ACCME Standards for Commercial Support of Continuing Medical Education (September, 2004)
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costs, cash management of all revenue, and a Financial Summary detailing revenue
and expenses; provide periodic working budgets as requested by the PC and notify
the PC of any revenue or expense projections which vary significantly from that
working budget;
▪ designate this activity for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, if appropriate;
▪ obtain other specialized credit when requested.
The Division will:
▪ appoint the Program Chair (PC) for this activity,
▪ The Division will help assure that all Conflict of Interest Disclosure forms required to
meet ACCME regulations are completed according to CPDE guidelines (all planning
committee members must complete and return disclosure forms prior to the promotion
of the CME activity);
▪ provide at least three different sources of documentation regarding needs assessment
for this activity. Examples of such documents may include: response rates and other
results from surveys of potential learners; evaluative results from prior or similar CME
activities; performance improvement reports identifying gaps between health care
performance and desired outcomes, sometimes expressed as clinical guidelines, and
journal articles related to new knowledge or skills..(All needs assessment
documentation must be provided prior to promoting the activity. It may be provided in
electronic or hard copy formats.);
▪ approve the preliminary program budget and provide general guidance to CPDE
regarding the program’s financial aspects, including for example, the amount of faculty
honoraria and other compensation, the level of social amenities to be included in the
program, etc.;
 develop the content and speakers for the activity; and in conjunction with the CPDE,
invite, or delegate the authority to invite, the program faculty;
▪ PC, or her/his delegate(s) will attend program planning meetings and be on-site during
the activity;

the CPDE must receive completed Conflict of Interest Disclosure forms from the
Scientific Chair, all planning committee members and any others who might be in a
position to control the content of this activity, prior to any promotional activities which
indicate that this activity is designated for CME credit; your CPDE representative will
not approve or authorize any promotional materials (print, email, online, etc) until all
COI forms have been completed and returned, and any conflicts noted have been
resolved according to VCU and CPDE policies
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II. ON-SITE MANAGEMENT
▪ provide up to two on-site personnel to staff the registration desk, and to coordinate
CPDE will:
and manage all program logistics (including all contractual services, process on-site
registrations, assist the PC and program faculty); The Division staff may supplement
certain CPDE staff on-site if the The Division chooses; if additional staff or labor is
required due to the size and/or complexity of the activity, all associated travel and
overtime costs will be charged to the program account;
▪ assure compliance on-site with all applicable ACCME and university policies;
▪ process necessary credit documentation.
III. POST-CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES
▪ enter and maintain records of attendance;
CPDE will:
 award category 1 and Type 1 credit to physician registrants; process documentation
necessary to award specialized credits (i.e., CEUs, AAFP and ANCC credit if
requested in advance);
▪ compile evaluation data from registrants, and prepare an evaluation data summary to
be submitted to the Division within 30 days;
 schedule an interview with the Program Chair within 30 days post activity to allow for
evaluative feedback on CPDE services and performance; and
▪ provide a full post-program financial summary for this activity within 90 days;
▪ generate thank you letters to program faculty within 30 days.
IV. FEES FOR CPDE CONSULTATIVE, PROGRAM PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
The cost for consultative, program planning, and administrative services for the 2007 program, being
planned as a two-day event, will be $x,xxx for the first day and for up to 100 participants. Each
additional participant beyond 100 will be $xx per person. For each additional day, the charge will be
$x,xxx.
For example:
Two day up-front cost
($x,xxx + x,xxx) =

$xx,xxx
200 participants
$xx,xxx
+ 100 X $xx = $x,xxx
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$xx,xx
and Symposium 2007 program account and are the responsibility of the Division. These direct costs
include, but are not limited to:

Promotional expenses (e.g., brochure design, printing, mailing)

Faculty travel and honoraria expenses

Meeting Expenses (e.g., food and beverage, audiovisual, lodging)

Contractual services (e.g., entertainment, catering, equipment rental)

Teleconferencing costs (some committees conduct planning meetings with faculty in remote
locations by conference call)

Staff overtime during actual conference days is additional to the CPDE fee if staff overtime is
required for early morning, evening, weekend or holiday hours

Personnel and travel costs, if any, for additional staff beyond the standard package of two
CPDE conference staff on-site is in addition to the CPDE fee.
It is understood that the CPDE fees are to be paid from the program revenue at the end of the
conference. Payment of these fees is a “first dollar” commitment from the Symposium program
account. Should the program account fail to accrue sufficient revenue to cover these fees, the Division
is responsible for these, and all other program charges.
All net proceeds after payment of all program expenses will accrue to the Division. Net proceeds are
due and payable to the Division, and net losses are due and payable to the CPDE, 90 days after the
program.
V. APPROVAL OF LETTER OF AGREEMENT
______________________________
______________________________
John Smith, MD
Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology
and Nutrition, Hepatology Section
John Boothby, MSW
Office of Continuing Professional
Development and Evaluation Studies
____________________
____________________
Date
Date
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