EUROPEAN UNION OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS
Alment Praktiserende Lægers Europæiske Organisation – UEMO
European Union of General Practitioners – UEMO
Europäische Vereinigung der Allgemeinärzte – UEMO
Union Européenne des Médecins Omnipraticiens – UEMO
Unione Europea dei Medici di Medicina Generale – UEMO
Europese Huisartsen Vereniging - UEMO
Unión Europea de Médicos Generalistas – UEMO
Uniao Europeia de Clinicos Gerais – UEMO
Euroopan Yleislääkärijärjestö – UEMO
Europeiska Allmänläkarorganisationen – UEMO
UEMO
UEMO 2002/048
REPORT FROM UEMS-MEETING ON 23 MARCH 2002
1.
Annual Report 2001
The UEMS objectives are harmonisation and improvement of quality for specialist
doctors and safeguarding the interests of doctors in Europe, in close cooperation with
European associated organisations and medical and scientific organisations. The main
activities of UEMS are the quality and structure of continuing medical education for
specialist doctors. In 2001 these objectives were apparent within the field of
accreditation of CME within the EACCME and the field of CPD (see the Basel
Declaration – UEMO 2002/024). A deeper collaboration is progressively being
developed between the UEMS specialist sections and the European medical and
scientific societies. A working Group has been created to examine those problems. Its
ongoing work covers
 EACCME accreditation of certain organisations for a period of several years
 EACCME accreditation of distance learning
 incorporation of CPD in the EACCME as laid down in the Basel Declaration
2.
3.
4.
5.
The request by Azerbaijan to become an associated member was approved.
UEMS now has 29 members of which 18 are full members and 11 are
associated members.
A deeper cooperation between the UEMS, CP, UEMO. A meeting is
planned for 24 April 2002 within the ACMT framework.
The working Group on CME/CPD. See the Basel declaration – document
2002/024. CPD=the educative means of updating, developing and
enhancing how doctors apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes required
in their working lives. CME concerns the expansion of the knowledge and
skill base required by doctors. CPD includes the active professional
learning. This idea includes the notion of recertification and has been
developed in agreement with the US and Canada.
EACCME Activity Report. Since the launch of its activities in 2000, the
EACCME becomes increasingly important in order to reach the goal to
respond to a common demand for a quality improvement on European
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org
6.
level. It is in the interest of the national organisations to incorporate
EACCME in order to unify the credit hours of CME all over Europe and to
allow smooth exchanges. See UEMS Document D 0217 (attached)
Next meeting on 18-19 October 2002.
Dr W. André
Liaison Officer
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org
UNION EUROPÉENNE DES MÉDECINS SPÉCIALISTES
EUROPEAN UNION OF MEDICAL SPECIALISTS
UEMS / EACCME ®
UEMS, Secretariat/Siège: Av.de la Couronne, 20, B-1050 BRUSSELS
tel:+32-2-649.5164, fax: +32-2-640.3730, e-mail: uems@skynet.be
D 0217
EACCME
®
European Accreditation Council
for Continuing Medical Education
History and political background
Continuing Medical Education has been a major concern of the UEMS since 1993 when the
Charter on Continuing Medical Education was published. Voluntary CME is enshrined in
UEMS policy, but in several European countries steps are being taken on national level
towards mandatory CME, coupled with legal or professional re-certification or re-licensing,
financial incentives or coupled with contracts with insurances and hospitals.
This will lead towards an increasing need for European exchange of CME credits, obtained
by individual doctors outside their own country.
In 1999 the Management Council decided to establish the EACCME. The EACCME will
facilitate access to quality CME for European doctors, contribute to the quality of CME in
Europe and make exchange of CME credits in Europe possible.
Quality control of CME activities is a key element in this process. It was decided to effect
this in a decentralized manner, using the expertise of existing European and national
professional bodies active in this field. This is effected by the EACCME in everyday
practice with one important addition. This is the political necessity to conform to the
political authority of national professional regulatory bodies in the field of CME. These
bodies are in charge of registration of doctor's CME/CPD in their country and therefore
insist to be in charge of accreditation of CME and the awarding of credits. In some countries
this is, or may be in the near future, linked to recertification.
Structure of the EACCME:
The UEMS is the political representative umbrella organisation for Specialists in the
European Union and associated countries. Its governing body is the Management
Council in which the national associations in each member country have voting rights.
The Management Council elects an executive committee consisting of the President, the
Secretary-General, the Treasurer and the Liaison Officer. The executive committee reports to
the Management Council.
The Management Council decided in 1999 to establish the EACCME, with the EACCME
becoming operational in January 2000.
The EACCME is governed by the Management Council of the UEMS.
A second body of the EACCME is the UEMS Advisory Council on CME in which the
national CME regulatory bodies are directly represented. For many countries this
representation is identical to the representation in the Management Council, but there are
important exceptions such as Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the UK. For this
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org
reason the Advisory Council is a key element in the EACCME. In the Advisory Council the
EACCME can also accommodate relevant professional bodies.
The daily proceedings of the EACCME are managed by the executive committee of the
UEMS and its Brussels Secretariat.
Right from the start of the EACCME it was clear that the national professional regulatory
bodies could approve a structure making CME credits in Europe exchangeable, but only with
the condition that they will remain firmly in charge of events in their own country and that
they would have a decisive vote in the governing body of the EACCME. This is a political
reality. In some countries it is based upon the expectation that within a few years mandatory
recertification will occur and that CME credits will play an important role in this
recertification.
The EACCME received its mandate from the national regulatory bodies, but with
several distinct conditions:

The National Authority should be maintained. The EACCME should not become a
supranational body, but a link and clearing-house between the national regulatory
bodies.

The final word concerning accreditation of each activity should thus rest with the
national regulatory body in the country where the activity takes place.

The Brussels administration should be as lean as possible.

Quality assurance and determination of number of credits of separate CME activities
should be decentralized. Here the EACCME should rely upon the expertise of
professional bodies in each specialty such as the UEMS Sections/Boards and
national/European professional societies, thus avoiding duplication of quality
assurance proceedings.

There should be no accreditation of commercially biased activities, internet activities
and for the time being each activity should be judged separately. So providers are not
accredited for series of activities stretching over years.

Administrative expenses of the EACCME should be borne by the providers of
activities applying for European accreditation. The expenses should be limited,
avoiding duplication in Brussels of work done already in the professional bodies.
Only within the framework of these conditions do the national regulatory bodies
guarantee recognition of EACCME credits obtained by doctors in their country.
The EACCME has been working strictly within this mandate. This means that the
procedure is as follows:

The provider of a CME activity requests European Accreditation of that event with
the EACCME at its Brussels office. Full details concerning the activity should be
provided together with the application. This will be judged against the UEMS
Quality criteria.

The EACCME requests professional advice from a professional body, which may not
be the provider itself. The professional body such as the UEMS Sections/Boards and
national/European professional societies have the final say in the determination of the
number of credits based upon the "credit-hour".
Often the provider has already obtained such accreditation, which can be forwarded
to the EACCME together with the formal application.
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org

The EACCME requests approval from the national regulatory body. When this is
obtained the EACCME grants European accreditation.
This procedure meets the political requirements of the national regulatory bodies. The added
value of the EACCME is the link between the professional societies, and others, who are the
providers of CME and the national regulatory bodies. Any change to this procedure would
need the consensus of the national regulatory bodies. Any deviation from this consensus
would defeat the purpose of the EACCME and it would also mean loss of the agreement
with the American Medical Association concerning mutual recognition of EACCME and
AMA credits.
The added value for providers is that they will attract more participants from abroad and also
from the USA. The long term benefit is the link with the national regulatory bodies. These
bodies are very keen to preserve their national authority in the awarding of credits to the
doctors in their own countries. The EACCME offers an institution in which they participate
and have authority. In this way the profession facilitates exchange of CME credits in Europe
in a similar way as postgraduate diplomas are mutually recognized on the basis of European
law.
At present in 2001 the exchange of CME credits is not urgent as systems of mandatory are
not yet operational in Europe. At the moment providers look at European Accreditation
mostly as an additional mark of quality and they are willing to reimburse the administrative
expenses for this reason. The EACCME started with a charge of 100 euro, but in the future
there will be a sliding scale depending upon the size and duration of the actual activity. 1000
euro will be the upper limit for activities with tens of thousands participants and a budget of
many millions.
In the Management Council there was a debate as to the right time to start operation of the
EACCME. It was judged to be better to start in a period before possible mandatory European
accreditation. This provided the opportunity to gain experience and commence on a smaller
scale without much extra infrastructure and to develop gradually.
The ultimate goal is to develop a system that makes life easier for our colleagues and to
provide them with recognised quality CME with the guarantee that they can use the CME
credits they obtain to meet their national requirements.
The system should be decentralized, using expertise in quality assessment available in the
existing professional structures, and should be governed by the responsible national
professional bodies participating in the UEMS and the EACCME structure.
EACCME ®
European Accreditation Council for
Continuing Medical Education
Purpose and Procedure
Purpose:
The purpose of the EACCME is the harmonization and improvement of the quality of
specialist medical care in Europe. In the field of Continuing Medical Education the
EACCME will serve this purpose by improving quality of CME and accessibility to CME
for the medical specialists in Europe. The practical instrument to improve the quality of
CME in Europe will be the facilitation of transfer of CME credits obtained by individual
specialists in CME activities that meet common quality requirements:
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org

Between European countries

Between different specialties

In case of migration of a specialist within Europe

Between the European credit system and comparable systems outside Europe.
In order to make exchange of credits possible the "hour of CME" equating to 1 credit will be
used for the international awarding of CME credits. National systems should also use this
unit or establish a fixed exchange rate with this unit.
The EACCME will not provide accreditation of CME activities directly, but it will connect
the existing and emerging accreditation systems in Europe and act as a clearing-house for
accreditation of CME and credits in Europe. As such it does not supersede the national
authority on accreditation of CME, nor does it create another layer of bureaucracy.
The UEMS Advisory Council on CME will link the accrediting bodies participating in the
EACCME. Partners in the EACCME will be the UEMS Specialist Sections/Boards. As
institutions of the UEMS they will provide the EACCME with expert knowledge in their
fields. The other partners in the Advisory Council will be the institutions, national and
European, active in the field of CME.
The UEMS will be committed to further evolvement of the procedures of the EACCME in
cooperation with its partners, the national professional CME authorities and professional
specialist organizations and societies in Europe.
Procedure:
1. Application for European Accreditation
The provider of a CME activity requests European Accreditation of that event with
the EACCME at its Brussels office. Full details concerning the activity should be
provided together with the application. This will be judged against the UEMS quality
criteria. If available the provider submits proof of already obtained accreditation by
national or European institutions.
The provider submits the intended number of hours and the language(s) of the CME
activity.
By applying for European Accreditation the provider commits itself to adhere to the
quality requirements as stated by the EACCME (document D 9908).
2. Quality Assurance of the CME activity
The EACCME requests professional advice from a professional body, which may not
be the provider itself. The professional body such as the UEMS Sections/Boards and
national/European professional societies judge the number of credits based upon the
"credit-hour". Often the provider has already obtained such accreditation, which can
be forwarded to the EACCME® together with the formal application. The number of
hours of credit should be included in this statement.
3. National approval
The EACCME requests approval from the national regulatory body of the country
where the activity takes place. When this is obtained the EACCME grants European
accreditation.
Where national accreditation institutions are not in a position to do so, specialty
based accreditation institutions should be mediator between the CME provider and
the EACCME.
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org
4. Continuous accreditation of providers or accreditation of single activities
Initially European accreditation is granted for single CME activities. Presently the
mandate of the EACCME does not extend to continuous accreditation. Providers who
offer CME activities on a regular basis have to apply for accreditation on a case by
case basis.
5. Confirmation of European Accreditation
The EACCME will confirm the European accreditation to the provider and authorize
the CME provider to publish the accreditation by the EACCME with the approved
number of hours of credit in brochures, advertisements and in the programme of the
CME activity. For this purpose the standard EACCME statement must be used in
printed material concerning the CME activity, adapted to continuous accreditation or
accreditation for single CME activities:
The < name of institution > (or) < title of the CME
activity > is accredited by the European Accreditation
Council for Continuing Medical Education
(EACCME) to provide the following CME activity for
medical specialists. The EACCME is an institution of
the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS),
www.uems.be
The < title of the CME activity > is designated for a
maximum of (or "for up to") < number of hours >
hours of European external CME credits. Each
medical specialist should claim only those hours of
credit that he/she actually spent in the educational
activity.
"EACCME credits are recognized as Physician's
Recognition Award by the American Medical
Association."
6. Proof of attendance
The upper statement together with the number of granted "hours of CME Credit"
should be printed in the proof of attendance or diploma that the CME provider
distributes to the participating medical specialists. They are themselves responsible
for handling and preserving these documents and should utilise these documents
when requested by local recognition Authorities.
7. Quality requirements for European Accreditation
For European accreditation the CME provider must comply with the requirements of
the national CME authority in its home country.
By application for accreditation by the EACCME the CME provider certifies that it
complies with the basic criteria for the quality of CME as defined by the EACCME
(document D 9908,).
8. Administrative expenses EACCME
The administrative expenses of the EACCME will be met by contributions by the
CME providers obtaining European Accreditation. As the EACCME will utilise the
accreditation by its partners and will not supersede existing systems the
administrative expenses will be modest. Till mid-2000 the UEMS will carry the
expenses of the EACCME.
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org
Registration by the EACCME
The EACCME will keep a register of these CME activities with EACCME accreditation and
will supply the relevant information to CME authorities when requested.
UEMO – PRESIDENCY
c/o Swedish Medical Association, P.O. Box 5610, Villagatan 5, SE-114 86 Stockholm
Tel: +46 8 790 34 52, Fax 46 8 20 57 18, E-mail: info@uemo.org