CME Joint Sponsorship Program

The Division of Education established its CME Joint Sponsorship Program in 2001. The program is conducted by the College, an accredited provider of CME under the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, and provides cost-effective joint sponsorship to not-for-profit surgical and medical societies and institutions for their education activities.

Please note that this program is not open to medical education commercial companies. 

In order for your activity to be considered for joint sponsorship, a preliminary application must be submitted to the College prior to the 1^st planning meeting.  For your information, following is an outline of our process:

Prior to the Educational Activity

• Pre-Application completed and submitted to ACS prior to the planning of the activity
• Upon conditional approval of the activity, planning committee disclosures and instructions e-mailed to the non-accredited society
• Disclosure forms completed by the Planning Committee and compliance with this process noted in the committee minutes.
• Program developed from needs assessment data and objectives established
• Final Joint Sponsorship Application submitted to ACS three months prior to activity
• Upon final approval, forms. templates, instructions and final invoice e-mailed to society
• Disclosure forms sent to all speakers and potential Conflicts of Interest managed by a designated official
• Advance program and web-based information submitted to ACS for approval prior to publication
• Objectives, ACS Seal, accreditation & credit statements printed in advance program
• All disclosure forms returned and conflicts successfully managed by non-accredited partner prior to the meeting.  Completion of the disclosure form at the meeting is not permitted—no exceptions
• Educational Grant Letters of Agreement faxed to ACS for signature prior to the meeting
• Acknowledgement of educational grant support printed in final program
• Objectives, ACS Seal, accreditation and credit statements printed in final program
• Final program book copy submitted to ACS for approval prior to print
• Evaluation forms prepared and forwarded to ACS for approval prior to print
• On-site disclosure summary form (if not printed in program book) completed and copy submitted to ACS for approval prior to activity. 

At the Meeting

• Disclosure summary distributed on-site to all attendees at the start of the activity
• Activity Evaluation Form(s) collected & CME certificates distributed—certificates may also be mailed post-meeting

Post Meeting

Final Report submitted to ACS within 3 months of the activity:

1. Copies of all speaker disclosure forms
2. Documentation of “managed” disclosures
3. Two examples of completed evaluations
4. Evaluation summary
5. Attendee list with number of credits claimed by each attendee—AMA Regulation
6. Expense and Revenue Report
7. A copy of the Final Program Book

If you have any questions, please contact the program’s manager, Kathleen Goldsmith, at kgoldsmith@facs.org or 312-202-5212.

Pre-Application: American College of Surgeons Joint Sponsorship Agreement for CME Activities (60K PDF)

Please note: The revised application can be done electronically, and the completed form printed for submission with application fee.

The application file is in Adobe Acrobat format. To view Portable Document Files (PDF) download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Revised September 22, 2008

Division of Education

CME Opportunities