Welcome to the ASHA Continuing Education Boards (CEB) webinar focused - - PDF document

Welcome to the ASHA Continuing Education Board’s (CEB) webinar focused on Required Practice 3.2. In this module, we’ll take a closer look at what ASHA Approved CE Providers must do to manage conflicts of interest in courses offered for ASHA CEUs. This presentation is about 25 minutes long.

1

Requirement 3 is focused on transparency issues related to course planning, course delivery and marketing of courses

• ffered for ASHA CEUs.

The focus of Required Practice 3.2 outlines how the ASHA Approved CE Provider manages course planners’ and instructional personnel’s conflicts of interest.

2

Requirement #3 has 4 major components. Those components are (1) management of course content, (2) management of conflicts of interest, (3) management of financial and in‐kind support, and (4) management of exhibits and advertisements. This webinar focuses solely on Required Practice 3.2 which is about the management of conflicts of interest. You should read the entire requirement to become familiar with the other 3 components and consult the requirement as you implement your course planning, delivery and marketing efforts. Additional webinars are available that go into more detail about the other 3

• components. Below this screen is a list of resources including a

hyperlink to other webinars that you may want to access after viewing this webinar.

3

We all have a working definition of conflicts of interest but let me take a minute to go over how the CEB has defined conflicts

• f interest in CE courses.

Conflicts of Interest in continuing education arise when financial and/or nonfinancial considerations or relationships, relevant to the course content, compromise or have the potential to compromise professional judgment. The key to defining conflicts of interest is those financial or nonfinancial relationships that are related to the course content you are developing or delivering. The CEB isn’t asking planners and instructional personnel to reveal all the details of their financial history; only those relationships that relate to the course content.

4

So after going over the conflicts of interest definition the next logical question is “When is a relationship relevant to course content?” Financial and nonfinancial relationships are relevant if they: Influence the information presented in the course, and/or Could be perceived as a conflict of interest by learners. I’ll define financial and nonfinancial relationships a little later in the webinar.

5

6

So we’re all on the same page, let me define the term instructional personnel. The CEB is using instructional personnel to encompass other terms like presenter, speaker, instructor, faculty, author, subject matter expert, curriculum developer and so on. We use the term instructional personnel because our ASHA CE Providers offer a wide variety of courses for ASHA CEUs. Many

• f them are live courses with instructors, presenters, speakers,
• facilitators. Other courses in the form of journal articles,

newsletters or other types of enduring materials have instructional personnel that are called authors, subject matter experts, or curriculum developers. In order to include all these different terms used for individuals who develop and deliver learning, we are using the term instructional personnel.

The ASHA CEB has always had requirements around disclosure of conflicts of interest. However, Requirement 3 provides more guidance and definition around this issue. Requirement 3 stipulates that course planners as well as course instructional personnel must go through a process with the CE Provider to identify financial and nonfinancial relationships relevant to the course content they are involved in planning and/or delivering. The CEB understands that providers choose planners and instructional personnel BECAUSE of their expertise. Individuals with expertise often come with a portfolio of published materials,

• wnership of intellectual property, etc. They may also have

appointments on boards or committees that are related to their area of expertise. Required practice 3.2 acknowledges the value of those relationships but at the same time seeks to ensure that the existence of those relationships are made known to the ASHA

7

Approved CE Provider and learners in a simple, straightforward manner.

7

You may be thinking wow! just a few slides into the webinar and there’s already a lot of definitions and details to remember…a mnemonic to the rescue! When managing conflicts of interest, remember CEU. ASHA Approved CE Providers are required to

• Collect disclosure information,
• Evaluate that information, and
• Use the disclosure information when promoting courses and

prior to the start of courses.

8

While the mnemonic device can help you focus on the 3 keys to managing conflicts of interest, let me take you through the specifics of Required Practice 3.2. This is a slide you’ll see 2 other times in this webinar as I take you through the specifics of collecting, evaluating and using disclosure information. 3.2 stipulates that the CE Provider must have a process in place to identify relevant financial and nonfinancial relationships of planners and instructional personnel. Second, that process must include how the provider will determine if the identified conflicts of interest can be handled through disclosure or disqualify planners or instructional personnel. And third, the provider’s process must include how instructional personnel disclosures will be made available in promotional materials and at the course. After viewing this webinar, you may want to click on the Conflict of 9

Interest Policy hyperlink below this screen for an example of a written process that addresses these 3 items. http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/CE‐Provider‐Conflict‐Policy.pdf

9

Let’s start with identifying relevant conflicts of interest. According to our mnemonic, this “C” stands for Collecting disclosure information.

10

Who must the Provider collect disclosure information from; course planners and instructional personnel. Each individual must provide disclosure to you, the Provider. If you are a CE Administrator and are involved in planning and delivering a course, you must also provide disclosure information. You want to make sure you have disclosure information before engaging an individual as a course planner or instructional

• personnel. Individuals who don’t provide disclosure information

must be disqualified from being involved in the course.

11

You’re going to collect disclosure information from planners and instructional personnel before course planning begins. But you also need to communicate to planners and instructional personnel that they must let you know if any relevant relationship changes during planning. Specifically for instructional personnel, you’ll need to have a system set up where you ask them to review their disclosure information and update as needed after course planning has concluded but prior to the start of the course.

12

OK, so you know the who and when of collecting disclosure information but that begs the question what are planners and instructional personnel disclosing? Course planners and instructional personnel are required to disclose financial and nonfinancial relationships that relate to the content of the course they are planning or delivering. Earlier relevant to course content was defined as financial or nonfinancial relationships that could influence the information presented in the course, and/or be perceived as a conflict of interest by learners. Now, let’s talk about financial and nonfinancial relationships that could be related to course content.

13

What are relevant financial relationships? Relevant financial relationships are those relationships in which the planner or instructional personnel benefits by receiving a salary, royalty, intellectual property rights, gift, speaking fee, consulting fee, honoraria, ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options, or

• ther ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds), or
• ther financial benefit. Financial relationships can also include

"contracted research" where an institution gets a grant and manages the funds and the planner or instructional personnel is the principal or named investigator on the grant. Remember, relevant financial relationships are those relationships that are relevant to the course content the planner or instructional personnel is involved in planning or delivering.

14

What are relevant nonfinancial relationships? Examples of relevant nonfinancial relationships are those relationships that might bias the planner or instructional personnel including any personal, professional, political, institutional, religious or other

• relationships. Again, a nonfinancial relationship is relevant if it

pertains to the course content the individual is planning or delivering. After viewing this webinar, consider clicking on the Provider Frequently Asked Questions hyperlink found just below this screen for a more detailed explanation of financial and nonfinancial relationships. http://www.asha.org/CE/for‐providers/FAQs‐About‐ Requirement‐3‐for‐CE‐Providers‐‐Instructional‐Personnel/

15

Providers need to have a consistent way in which planners and instructional personnel provide their disclosure information. Most providers will have a form that they send to planners and instructional personnel before course development begins. Just a point of emphasis here…you must have the planners and instructional personnel complete the forms for themselves…even if you know the person well, you should not assume that you are privy to every relevant relationship the individual may have. How ever your organization collects this information, you’ll need to ensure that planners and instructional personnel are asked about both financial and nonfinancial relationships. After viewing this module, click on the Model Disclosure form hyperlink to see an example of a disclosure form that could be used to collect disclosure information from planners and

16

instructional personnel. http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/Planner‐Personnel‐ Relationship‐Disclosure‐Form.pdf

16

Remember I mentioned that we’d come back to this slide? We’ve covered Collecting disclosure information, now what do you do with that information? Required Practice 3.2 stipulates that the CE Provider must have a process to determine if the identified conflicts of interest can be handled through disclosure or disqualifies planners or instructional personnel. Remembering the mnemonic, next, we’re going to focus on Evaluating disclosure information.

17

The provider should read through and evaluate the disclosure information provided before finalizing the planners and instructional personnel for the course. The information disclosed has the potential to change your mind about having the person participate in course planning and delivery. The provider also needs to evaluate new disclosure information provided throughout the course planning process and up to the start of the course. This new information at the very least must be incorporated into learner disclosure statements and has the potential to influence changes in instructional personnel selection and/or course content.

18

When you review and evaluate the disclosure forms, you want to have the course content squarely at the forefront of your mind. Again, the CEB is concerned with financial and nonfinancial relationships that the course planners and instructional personnel may have that could Influence the information presented in the course, and/or Be perceived as a conflict of interest by learners. The instructional personnel and planners may have ‘overshared’ on the disclosure forms and provided relationships that are not related to

• content. On the other end of the spectrum, planners or instructional

personnel may have a relationship that you are aware of that is relevant but they didn’t include on their form. You don’t need to be the CE police but you would want to ask them why they didn’t include that

• relationship. It may be simply a misunderstanding about what your

disclosure form is asking for. One way to avoid either of these circumstances is to have a conversation with the planner or instructional personnel when you give them the disclosure form to explain the intent

• f the form.

19

Once relevant relationships are identified, you want to have a conversation about those relationships so that you can evaluate whether disclosing the relationship is sufficient or if additional steps need to be taken to address the conflicts of interest.

20

For many relevant relationships, disclosure is sufficient. But for those relationships that compromise or have the potential to compromise professional judgment, you’ll need to take some additional steps. One option is the person could withdraw from involvement in the course. Another option is the person could not participate in the development or presentation of the part of the course with which they have a relationship that is compromising. Here’s an example: You’re planning a workshop on the advantages and disadvantages of a particular type of

• intervention. One of your planners has strong feelings that

there are no advantages to this type of intervention. You could exclude them from the discussion that is related to planning content related to the advantages of the intervention. On the

21

• ther hand, they will be a valuable contributor to planning the

parts of the course related to the intervention’s disadvantages.

21

Here’s a few other ways to address potential or real conflicts… I’m sure you and your team have others. If you have an internal group with expertise in the content, you could ask them to review the course to identify any bias, or You could send the content to external experts for a review. Finally, the course can be offered, but without offering ASHA CEUs. The take away…a conflict doesn’t necessarily prevent an individual’s involvement but the Provider and the individual must work together to prevent, as best they can, the conflict from influencing the content and delivery of the course.

22

So far, we’ve covered Collecting and Evaluating disclosure

• information. The last part of Required Practice 3.2 deals with

Using that disclosure information. Required Practice 3.2 stipulates that the CE Provider must ensure that instructional personnel disclosure is available to potential registrants in promotional efforts and at the start of the course. Remembering the mnemonic CEU, next, we’re going to focus on USING disclosure information.

23

It is the Provider’s responsibility to ensure instructional personnel disclosure is made to learners. This disclosure must be available in promotional efforts and at the start of the course. You’ll want to USE the information the instructional personnel provided on the disclosure form to create disclosure statements. In a moment, you’ll see some samples. It’s important to keep the disclosure statements brief and matter of fact. The disclosure statement should not be used to market the individual’s products, services or relationships.

24

Disclosures made prior to and at the course must include the instructional personnel’s name, their relevant financial relationships or lack thereof, and their relevant nonfinancial relationships or lack thereof. Even if an instructor has no relevant financial relationships and no relevant nonfinancial relationships, the disclosure must address each type of

• relationship. An important element is that a disclosure is

expected for each instructional personnel prior to the course and at the beginning of the course. Neither the Provider nor the instructional personnel may remain silent on this issue. Disclosure must be made available to learners. Let’s look at some examples of how instructional personnel can disclose at the start of the course.

25

We recommend that disclosures at the start of a course be done

• rally and in print format.

Here’s our first example. In this situation the individual has a relevant financial relationship and no relevant nonfinancial relationship.

26

Highlighted in yellow is an example of a speaker disclosing a relevant financial relationship. Dave Doc’s presentation is related to a book he’s authored and from which he receives a financial benefit.

27

Now, the speaker informs the audience that he has no relevant nonfinancial relationship. See yellow highlighting.

28

Let’s look at an example where the speaker has no relevant financial relationship but does have a relevant nonfinancial relationship.

29

Here the speaker informs the audience that she’s authored the book and test but receives no financial benefit from the sale of

• either. Dr. Sweets goes on to say that she has no other financial

relationship to disclose.

30

• Dr. Sweets now addresses the existence of a nonfinancial

relationship. Remember, disclosure must address financial and nonfinancial relationships.

31

Here’s a speaker announcement where there is nothing relevant to course content to disclose.

32

Highlighted in yellow you see Mr. Booker’s announcement before the course begins informs the audience that he has no relevant relationships to disclose. When speakers fail to address relationships, the audience is left wondering if the speaker forgot to disclose or worse, that the speaker has a relationship that he is choosing not to disclose.

33

I’ve walked your through some examples of how speakers might craft their disclosure statements. Remember, disclosure must speak to financial and nonfinancial relationships even when there are none. For more examples, take some time to review the sample disclosure statements web page. You’ll find a hyperlink to that page just below the webinar screen. http://www.asha.org/CE/for‐providers/admin/Speaker‐Planner‐ Disclosure/

34

Once again, remember the mnemonic, CEU (Collecting, Evaluating and Using) when dealing with planner and instructional personnel disclosure information.

35

Thank you for joining us and look for other Requirement 3 webinars.

36