Transparency through disclosure of relationships with companies is one step in the Academy’s process of ensuring that all its educational activities are fair, balanced, and not commercially biased. The Academy's Board of Trustees supports the position that having a financial relationship should not restrict expert scientific, clinical, or non-clinical presentation or publication or participation in Academy leadership or governance, provided that appropriate disclosure of such relationship is made, and mitigation occurs.
As an ACCME accredited provider of accredited Continuing Education (CE) activities, the Academy has established policies and processes to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all individual and jointly provided CME activities.
Who Should Disclose?
All Academy presenters, authors and other contributors to educational and leadership activities. If your role in an educational activity includes planning, directing, writing, editing, commenting or otherwise controlling the content that is presented to learners, you should disclose.
What Relationships do You Need to Disclose?
All financial relationships with Companies that you have had within the previous 24 months. A Company, or ACCME-defined “ineligible company” is a company whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
Types of Financial Relationships
Code
|
Description
|
C |
Consultant/Advisor Consultant fee, paid advisory boards, or fees for attending a meeting. |
E |
Employee Hired to work for compensation or received a W2 from a company. |
L |
Lecture Fees/Speakers Bureau Lecture fees or honoraria, travel fees or reimbursements when speaking at the invitation of a commercial company. |
P |
Patents/Royalty Beneficiary of patents and/or royalties for intellectual property. |
S |
Grant Support Grant support or other financial support from all sources, including research support from government agencies (e.g., NIH), foundations, device manufacturers, and\or pharmaceutical companies. Research funding should be disclosed by the principal or named investigator even if your institution receives the grant and manages the funds. |
EE |
Employee, Executive Role Hired to work in an executive role for compensation or received a W2 from a company. |
EO |
Owner of Company Ownership or controlling interest in a company, other than stock. |
SO |
Stock Options Stock options in a private or public company. |
PS |
Equity/Stock Holder - Private Corp (not listed on the stock exchange) Equity ownership or stock in privately owned firms, excluding mutual funds. |
US |
Equity/Stock Holder - Public Corp (listed on the stock exchange) Equity ownership or stock in publicly traded firms, excluding mutual funds. |
I |
Independent Contractor Contracted work, including contracted research |
If you have a type of financial or non-financial relationship with a company or organization that does not fall into any of the categories above, email CME@aao.org for assistance.
When and How to Disclose
Financial disclosures must involve both the following steps:
- Each presenter must have a first slide pertaining to financial interests. This first slide must either:
- Disclose all financial interests, or
- If there is nothing to disclose, the slide must state, “I have no financial interests or relationships to disclose.”
- Presenters are required to verbally state at the start of the talk any financial interests that specifically pertain to their presentation. If there is nothing to disclose or your financial disclosures are not relevant to the content of the CME activity, verbally state that you do not have any financial interests or relationships to disclose.
Even with these acknowledgements, the Academy’s Annual Meeting Program Committee expects that all presenters will give a fair and unbiased scientific talk.
A PowerPoint disclosure slide is made available to download for your presentation in Presenter Central.
Financial disclosure is something the Academy takes very seriously. During and after the meeting, Academy staff will be conducting spot checks of presentations to ensure the first-slide policy is followed. Any presenter who does not follow this policy will receive an official warning letter after the meeting and may result in exclusion from future meeting programs.