Professional Postgraduate Services^® (PPS) calls your attention to a recently issued "Call for Comment" by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) proposing the elimination of commercial support for continuing medical education (CME) activities. In this document, the ACCME puts forth three alternatives: (1) the status quo with commercial support of CME an acceptable funding mechanism; (2) the complete elimination of commercial support; or (3) a new paradigm that puts forth four criteria that must be met in order for commercial support to continue to be allowed.

The ACCME is asking that the medical profession and education community comment on these alternatives. It is critical that ACCME hear from you—physicians and other healthcare professionals who are learners in the system. PPS encourages you to read the complete proposal, give some thought to these three alternatives and make a comment to ACCME regarding your thoughts.

We ask you to keep in mind that a decision to eliminate commercial support could have a great impact on the quality and quantity of CME available to practicing healthcare professionals like yourself.

The "Call for Comment" document is available here. Comments are due to ACCME by August 11, 2008 and may be made at https://accme.wufoo.com/forms/call-for-comment-2/