CEU Accreditation

NAMSS CE Accreditation
The National Association Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) encourages sponsoring organizations to provide educational activities for members, clients, customers, prospects and personnel. NAMSS certificants are required to participate in on-going professional education to maintain their credential(s), and many sponsoring organizations have found NAMSS CE Accreditation to be an effective tool for marketing their continuing education programs. NAMSS has initiated an administrative review and accreditation process for those organizations wishing to include the NAMSS program approval in their promotional literature.

Note: NAMSS certificants report 30 hours of continuing education activity every three years, directly to NAMSS. They are not required to obtain course approval in advance of participating in a continuing education activity.

Qualifying Activities
Programs covering “generic” or “product-specific” topics or content are eligible for accreditation.

Generic subject matter means that the skills or knowledge gained by the attendees during the course is easily transferable from one product or product line to another.

Product-specific training is useful only for a given piece of equipment or a particular system.

Courses submitted as “product-specific” which appear to be sales pitches or product endorsements will not receive approval. This distinction is important because NAMSS does not endorse specific manufacturer’s products. NAMSS endorses competence in given areas of expertise. Product-specific courses may be approved when they are designed to increase efficiency, workflow, convey application guidelines, or troubleshooting techniques.

Determining Credits
Every 50-minutes of qualified education will qualify for one NAMSS continuing education credit. Credit is not awarded for breaks, meals, or networking activities.

Application Process
Organizations interested in receiving NAMSS accreditation must complete and sign the application form, which includes an approved tag line. Organizations must attach a schedule/agenda indicating the session topics and length, scheduled breaks and meals, whether the course is generic or product-specific, and a brief course description to include intended audience (see below) and course objectives (see below). Without this information, applications cannot be processed.

Accreditation requests should be submitted at least two months prior to the program date. This will ensure adequate time for NAMSS to process the application and allow the sponsoring organization to insert the appropriate information regarding credits in their marketing materials. Programs submitted less than 30 days prior to the program date will be evaluated on a best-effort basis. Please allow at least two weeks for application processing.

*Please note that any application submitted after the program has taken place, will NOT be approved for CE Credit.

Each program an organization wishes to have accredited requires a separate application. The application form may be duplicated. Only one application is necessary for programs with multiple presentation dates, providing the presentation does not vary in length or content. Please include all dates and locations on the application form.

Audience
Course descriptions must indicate the intended audience and course content must be a reasonable match for that audience. Courses with content inappropriate for the target audience will not receive approval.

Objectives
Applications for accreditation must be accompanied by a brief course description, including the length of course and key learning objectives. This information allows potential attendees to determine whether the course will meet their educational needs and know what they can expect to get out of the course before they invest their time and money. For example, “At the completion of this course attendees will be able to:

• describe the evolution of the current healthcare system
• identify the purpose and content of medical staff bylaws
• report current JCAHO and NCQA accreditation and credentialing standards for acute care, managed care, and credentialing verification organizations
• define healthcare terms and medical terminology
• define legal principle of credentialing
• describe key components of healthcare administration and management theories

If you can’t tell or can’t decide what knowledge the attendees will gain from the course, we can’t determine if the instruction will be useful for the intended audience, nor is it possible to justify attendance at this educational event.

Fees

• Not-for-Profit Organization - Fee: $75.00
• Corporations - Fee: $300.00 for each program ($50 for each additional offering of the same program); $275 for set quizzes of 3 or more
• NAMSS State/Chapter Affiliates - Fee: $60.00 if the program charges NAMSS members
• NAMSS State/Chapter Affiliates - Fee: $10.00 if the program is free for NAMSS member

Attendee Records
NAMSS will provide a certificate of attendance to the program sponsor, which may be reproduced and distributed to program participants, if desired.