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Attending: Linda Casebeer & Francis Kwakwa, co-chairs; Valerie Smothers, staff; Debbie Gist, Jean Holodneck, Ed Kennedy, Jack Kues, Andy Rabin.
Jack reported that since the last call he has talked to the alliance about developing application using the metrics standard. They thought it was great idea. It is on the agenda for the Alliance board retreat, which takes place next week. If they can develop a members-only resource, or a resource that is free to members and others pay, that may entice new members, thus providing value to the organization.
Valerie asked if there would there be an interest in tying this new application to the outcomes database they are already running. Jacj replied it would make the most sense to do that. That would provide an integrated package of services. Conceptually, it makes sense. But they are short on technical expertise. He guesses they would ask Paul Webber or another person to form a group to start working on a detailed proposal for putting some of these things together. He did suggest that MedBiquitous would be happy to work with them.
1 Review minutes of last meeting
The minutes were accepted.
2 Discuss Institute for Evaluation and Outcome Studies
Jack commented that he has sent the document to representatives of every organization listed in the document. The initial feedback has been positive. The practical question is, what does the institute look like? Is it an affiliate to other entities, or is the institute a standalone organization? It could be a virtual organization or a real organization. How we move forward should be the subject of discussions with the other groups. No single entity could take on the charge of the institute without political repercussions or huge additional resources.
Francis questioned whether a university would be willing to provide the necessary resources and a physical location. Jack commented he hoped to find in institution willing to lend resources on a temporary basis to get the institute running. Valerie commented that the AAMC comes to mind as a possible home.
Francis commented he was thinking more in terms of providing training for graduate students. Some already have faculty in this area. And he asked if there are postgraduate programs consistent with our work.
Jack replied that there are a number of places. Children's Hospital in Cincinnati has a master's in medical education online. There other masters levels programs around the country. There are also programs around CTSA and translational research.
Debbie asked about the potential for SACME or the alliance doing a pilot project. Jack replied they both may be interested. The pharmaceutical industry would be interested as well since they get data from projects in a non-systematic way. Providers will collect any data you tell them to if you give them a tool. The Alliance may coordinate development and validation of a suite of tools, but they couldn’t do it by themselves. They would need MedBiquitous, pharmaceutical companies, and the ACCME at the table. It is in ACCME’s best interest to be able to gather data in a systematic way for self study. They may not mandate, but they may promote the tools in some way. In addition, the ACCME is reviewing their criteria, and there may be changes.
Francis summarized that we’ll learn more after the retreat. Having the Alliance on board will allow many practical things to happen.
3 Discuss CECity experience in ACCME pilot
Andy explained that many organizations use their CME 360 tool. In February they made enhancements to support PARS reporting. They found the specifications fairly straightforward. He added that they do have a lot of experience in working with XML and MedBiquitous specifications. From their perspective, the ACCME pilot went smoothly. The biggest challenge is likely in interpreting different elements and capturing data that are not commonly tracked. There are quite a few new pieces of data around commercial support. In addition, there were activity categories that they had to prompt for, such as the amount of time for the learner. They also implemented validation so that users can check their activity against ACCME criteria before sending. They also provided education and training to their users. And he circulated a link to one such training program. Currently the report is downloaded and then uploaded to ACCME. In the future they would like to automate that transfer.
Commented he was heartened to hear that for those with experience in XML, the implementation was not challenging. He added that they had loosened requirements since the pilot. Mesh terms are no longer required. Only three people have used the XML in the exhibition phase, and he's not received much substantive feedback.
Andy commented that their success was based upon their technical strengths. In house, one would need to marry subject matter expert with the technical expert. Larger groups may have this capability. Andy asked Ed what their future plans were.
Ed replied that they are moving to full production in the near future, maybe beginning of July. They will be updating education materials and specifications at the same time. They will focus on enhancing communications to support the use of pars. At first, efforts will focus on people just coming into system.
4 Discuss bringing IT people together
5 Update from RSNA
Francis spoke with the education department to discuss implementing the XML reporting. The director of the department wanted to know if they could convert the data themselves and not involve IT. She wants to understand the process more to see where IT comes in and have control of the reporting process. Valerie put together the one page document reviewing the steps involved in exporting XML. Hopefully they can work with IT and move towards reporting using MEMS. Francis asked if there are their other IT groups that may want to sit with theirs. Valerie replied that RSNA are the trail blazers.
Commented that this may be an indicator of how to target their education and communication efforts. They may need to stress the need for interdepartmental cooperation.
Andy commented that there could be case studies showing how different groups have addressed XML reporting. Francis agreed that would be useful. Andy agreed to summarize their work and send it out to the group. Francis will share documents and update us on the next call.
6 Open discussion
Action items
Valerie will ask Jody to schedule a call in about 6 weeks time.
Jack will report on the alliance retreat on the next call.