Physicians who use handheld computers to access evidence-based medical information while caring for patients will now have the opportunity to earn continuing medical education (CME) credit for their efforts. The American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) announced its participation in a pilot program with the American Medical Association (AMA) to provide AMA PRA category 1 CME credit to physicians using PIER (Physicians' Information and Education Resource), ACP-ASIM's evidence- based clinical decision support tool, integrated with TouchWorks clinical software from Allscripts Healthcare Solutions.
During the 18-month pilot program to investigate ways to award CME credit, ACP-ASIM will use TouchWorks to monitor physician use of PIER during patient encounters. The results will help determine standards for awarding CME credit to physicians who seek point-of-care evidence-based answers to clinical questions.
The AMA and ACP-ASIM said they hope to encourage physicians to use evidence-based medicine in regular practice. During the pilot program, the AMA will award up to 10 AMA PRA category 1 credits to physicians who access ACP-ASIM's PIER using the TouchWorks wireless handheld application from Allscripts Healthcare Solutions. ACP-ASIM and the AMA will review physician activity from PIER and TouchWorks to determine appropriate equivalencies for evidence-based medicine learning and CME.
PIER offers peer-reviewed, evidence-based guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of disease, and links to articles and patient information across nearly 300 disease-specific modules. More than 500 physician-experts develop PIER guidance statements based on a rigorous review of current medical evidence.
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