FAQ: COI Disclosures
Q. Who needs to complete a disclosure?
A. Anyone who presents or has control over the content presented at a CME event. This includes the planning committee, residents, fellows, nurses, etc.
Q. What needs to be done if a speaker has disclosed a financial relationship?
A. Their presentation slides need to be reviewed by the activity chair or their designee prior to the day of the activity. If any bias is noted, such as trade names being used, industry logos on the slides or an apparent promotion of a particular product, the speaker must be notified to make changes to the slides and resubmit for approval prior to the activity. Documentation of this should be done by completing the Financial Relationship Mitigation Form/Independent Review - Session/Speaker Form related to that speaker's talk. This form must be assigned to the Independent Reviewer by the Activity Coordinator.
Q. What if I’m unable to attain the presenter’s disclosure?
A. Without a current disclosure, CME credit will not be awarded for that speaker’s presentation.
Q. What if the chair of the CME activity has disclosed a financial interest?
A. A planning committee member should be added that does not have any financial interests to help ensure selection of activity topics and speakers is not biased.
Q. How long is a disclosure valid?
A. Disclosures are valid for one year from the date of disclosure.
Q. If the presenter has submitted their disclosure to the online database, does a copy still need to be sent to the CME office?
A. No. If they submitted their disclosure as a paper form, the Activity Coordinator should upload it to the corresponding session.
Q. What about Journal Clubs and small Case Conferences that have the same attendees at each session?
A. For these you should print and display the Session Credit Claiming and Accreditation report at each session. There is a QR code that will print on this report which is specific to the date printed on the form. This QR code can be scanned by attendees to document their attendance at the session.
