AOA CME Guide for Osteopathic Physicians

CME Guide for Osteopathic Physicians – 2007-2009

All members of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), other than those exempted, are required to participate in the continuing medical education (CME) program and to meet specified CME credit hour requirements for the 2007--2009 CME cycle. 

The requirement for membership in the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) is 120 CME hours.  For those members with the 120 CME hour requirement, 30 CME hours must be obtained in Category 1-A.  The remaining 90 hours of the CME requirement may be satisfied with either Category 1-A, 1-B, 2-A or 2-B credits.  Physicians entering the program in mid cycle will have their credit requirements prorated.  Your individual CME Activity Report outlines your total CME requirement and the amount of credits needed in categories 1 and 2.  Physicians who are board certified must earn a minimum of 50 credit hours (Category 1 or 2) in their primary specialty. Members who obtain 150 hours or more of AOA approved CME credit in a three-year CME cycle will be given a certificate of excellence in CME.

The AOA assigns CME credit to four categories:  1-A, 1-B, 2-A, and 2-B.

Category 1-A Credit

AOA Category 1-A credits will be granted to attendees for formal educational programs designed to enhance clinical competence and improve patient care.  These programs must be sponsored by an AOA-accredited Category 1 CME sponsor- and are limited to:

  1. Formal Osteopathic CME
    Formal Osteopathic CME consists of formal face-to-face programs that meet the Category 1 quality guidelines and faculty requirements and are sponsored by AOA-accredited Category 1 CME sponsors.
  2. Osteopathic Medical Teaching
    Physicians who deliver formal osteopathic medical education in a didactic format are eligible to receive Category 1-A credit on an hour-for-hour basis.  Methods of such education are limited to:
    1. Formal delivery of osteopathic medical education lectures in colleges of osteopathic medicine,
    2. Formal delivery of osteopathic medical education to students, interns, residents, and staff of AOA-approved healthcare facilities.  Teaching credit must be submitted by the CME Department of an AOA-accredited Category 1 CME college of osteopathic medicine or Category 1 CME hospital.
  3. CME Credit for Standardized Life Support Courses
    The following standardized life support courses are eligible for Category 1-A credit.  Hours of credit for each course are awarded as indicated in the following table:
    Course Name
    Provider Course
    Refresher Course
    Instructor Course
    Advanced trauma life support
    19
    8
    16
    Advanced cardiac life support
    16
    8
    16
    Basic cardiac life support (health care provider)
    8
    4
    24
    Pediatric advanced life support (AHA)
    16
    8
    16
    Advanced pediatric life support (AAP)
    16
    8
    16
    Neonatal advanced life support
    8
    4
    16
    Advanced life support in obstetrics
    16
    16
    8

    All osteopathic physicians who successfully complete an eligible standardized life support course will be awarded for the actual number of hours taken not to exceed the total number of hours listed above in the chart

  4. Standardized Federal Aviation Courses
    The Federal Aviation Administration “Aviation Medicine” course and the United States Army “Flight Surgeon Primary Course,” are eligible for Category 1-A credit.
  5. Bioterrorism Courses
    1. AOA osteopathic sponsored “bioterrorism” courses are eligible for Category 1-A credit.
    2. A maximum of four hours of AOA Category 1-A (in any 3 year CME cycle) may be awarded for any bioterrorism courses that are ACCME or AAFP approved. Additional hours may be awarded in the appropriate category.
  6. Federal Programs
    1. AOA Category 1-A credit may be awarded to formal CME programs for participants who are on active duty or employed by a uniformed service.
    2. Category 1-B will be awarded to all other CME activities.
  7. Grand Rounds
    Grand rounds will be considered for AOA Category 1-A credit when submitted as a “series of at least three (3) programs,” as opposed to being submitted on a lecture-by-lecture basis.  The Category 1 CME Sponsor must meet the Accreditation Requirement to award AOA Category 1-A credit.

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Category 1-B Credit

Category 1-B credit may be awarded for the following:

  1. Publications, Inspections, Examinations, and Committee Meetings
    Development and publication of scientific papers and electronically communicated osteopathic educational programs; serving as an osteopathic healthcare facility, college accreditation, internship, residency or OPTI survey or or consultant; conducting and developing certifying board examinations; participating on an osteopathic state licensing professional review board; and for healthcare committee and departmental meetings which review and evaluate patient care whether the committee work is in an osteopathic or allopathic institution.
  2. Osteopathic Preceptoring
    Osteopathic physicians serving as preceptors in any AOA approved osteopathic medical education program may be granted Category 1-B credit.  A maximum of 60 hours of AOA Category 1-B for preceptoring may be applied to the 120-hour requirement.
  3. Certification Credit
    Fifteen hours of Category 1-B credit will be awarded to AOA members who pass an AOA recertification examination or obtain a certification of added qualifications.
  4. Activities in Non-AOA Accredited Institutions
    Category 1-B may be granted to osteopathic physicians who participate in a non-AOA accredited institution/hospital-activities such as:  hospital staff activities, educational lectures, and lecturing when the institution/hospital is an AOA recognized associate institution/hospital that trains osteopathic students, interns and/or residents.  A non-AOA accredited institution/hospital or associate institution/hospital is an institution/hospital that is directly associated with an OPTI for purposes of training osteopathic students, interns and/or residents.   Accreditation of the hospital/institution by the Healthcare Facility Accreditation Program HFAP of the AOA is not required.
  5. Non-Osteopathic CME Programs
    The Council on Continuing Medical Education may recognize allopathic specialty or subspecialty programs for Category 1-B credit, when in the Council's opinion there is essentially no equivalent course content available within the osteopathic profession, and that such recognition will apply to all physicians in that specialty or subspecialty. These courses must be provided by an ACCME accredited provider, or be AAFP approved.  To request consideration of a non-osteopathic course for Category 1-B credit, write to the Division of CME at AOA Headquarters in Chicago and provide a copy of the form designed to request AOA Category 1-B credit along with the printed program (or syllabus) and documentation of attendance.  The AOA performs this as a member service.  Non-members who request AOA Category 1-B credit for allopathic sponsors CME programs shall be reviewed by the CCME.  An application fee $25.00 shall be charged to the non-member for each request plus a $10.00 processing fee for each program requested to be approved.
  6. Journal Reading
    Osteopathic physicians can earn two hours of AOA Category 1-B credit for reading the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA) and other journals approved by the CCME and passing the respective CME quiz with a minimum grade of 70%.
  7. Faculty Development Programs
    Faculty development programs may be granted Category 1-A credit up to a maximum of 10 hours per CME cycle and Category 1-B credit for any excess hours if sponsored by an AOA-accredited Category 1 CME sponsor and meet the 1-A faculty/hours requirement. 
  8. Test Construction Committee Work
    Test construction committee work may be awarded Category 1-B credit when performed as part of a Seminar, or meeting of an AOA official certifying board, or an AOA practice affiliates postgraduate in-service examination committee, or at a meeting of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners with at least three attendees.
    1. One Category 1-B credit may be awarded for each test item written, with a maximum of 20 credits per cycle, when submitted to an AOA official certifying board and/or The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners.
    2. Two hours of Category 1-B credit may be awarded, with a maximum of 20 hours per cycle, for    clinical cases developed and submitted to NBOME for COMLEX-PE.
    3. Ten hours of Category 1-B credit may be awarded for administering the oral and practical examinations.
    Credits will not be awarded for meetings that are primarily administrative in nature.

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Category 2-A Credit

Category 2-A includes formal educational programs that are ACCME-accredited, AAFP-approved, or sponsored by AOA-accredited Category 1 CME sponsors that do not meet the 1-A faculty/hours requirement for Category 1-A credit.

Category 2-B Credit

Category 2-B credit includes the preparation and presentation of scientific exhibits at a county, regional, state, or national professional meeting (10 hours per scientific exhibit); home study; reading medical journals; viewing non-osteopathic medical video and audio tapes and cassettes; journal type CME on the Internet; faculty development; physician administrative training; quality assessment programs; observations at medical centers; courses in medical economics; CME programs on the Internet; risk management programs that are administrative in nature; programs dealing with experimental and investigative areas of medical practice, and ABMS recertification examination or a certificate of added certification (15 hours).  Five credit hours may be granted for reading medical textbooks.  A copy of the home CME certification form is published monthly in the JAOA.