Webinars to now carry CME credit points: Maharashtra Medical Council new Guidelines on Webinars

Keeping in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the said directives, the state medical council had decided not to grant credit points to physical conferences. However, medical organisations demanded with MMC for granting credit points to webinars which are needed to update medical knowledge of medical practitioners registered with the council. Hence Maharashtra Medical Council has finally approved to grant credit points to these webinars.

To specify, all registered medical practitioners in the state of Maharashtra have to renew their registration every 5 years from MMC. At the time of registration renewal, they need 30 credit points, which they collect by attending conferences, workshops and seminars. Now, as physical conferences are not possible against the backdrop of the pandemic, these webinars will help them for the renewal of their registration by providing credit points/ hours.

The said webinar shall be conducted by registered organisations, associations, medical colleges and teaching institutes. The application for accreditation needs to be sent to MMC 15 days prior to the date of webinar. Screenshots of the webinar will have to be sent to MMC 15 days prior to the date of the Webinar. One credit point will be given to a medical practitioner for the half-day webinar and two credit points will be given for the full day Webinar. At the time of renewal, registration medicos need 30 credit points which they collect by attending conferences, workshops and seminars.

The information to this effect comes via a recent notice uploaded on the official website of the state medical council wherein it released the guidelines for webinars.

GUIDELINES FOR WEBINARS ISSUED BY THE MAHARASHTRA MEDICAL COUNCIL

1. In the first phase, webinars may be conducted by only accredited institutions, organizations, medical colleges, and teaching institutes.

2. The Organization should have all the requisites and demonstrated the ability to plan and implement webinars to cover the targeted group.

3. As a special case, organizations can be accredited by the MMC President or accreditation committee on case to case basis.

4. In the first phase, webinars will be granted credit hours for a period of six months, starting from 1st September 2020.

5. RMPs are allowed to collect a maximum of 10 credit hours by webinars for every renewal.

6. Webinar types by participation: -

a. Classroom type webinars

b. Streaming type webinars (For example, YouTube stream with questions received on a Chat interface)

7. Application and attendee registration: - Application for accreditation of the webinar to be made online to MMC website 15 days prior to the conduct of the webinar, in a standard MMC prescribed format which is uploaded on the MMC website.

8. Screenshots: - Periodic time-stamped screenshots taken after half an hour of start and at the end of the webinar in every slot of 21/2 to 3 hrs.

9. Observers: - MMC can choose to appoint an observer to attend the webinar. MMC observer must have the ability to independently view all participants at any time during the webinar and verify the attendance of any doctor. The link to the webinar should be sent to MMC and Observers a minimum of 2 days before the webinar.

10. Runtime: - Each webinar should be of 21/2 to 3 hrs. and multiples thereof. 21/2 to 3 hrs webinar .shall be granted 1 credit hour. 5-6 hrs webinar shall be granted 2 (two) credit hours and 2 (two) full days' webinar shall be granted 4 (four) credit hours. A minimum of 2 speakers per credit hour are required.

11. The transcript of each webinar shall be relevant to updating the knowledge of the medical practitioners by way of the latest medical advances, the National Health Program, and the local needs of the Area/zone/State.

12. The officer bearers of the accredited institution, organizations, medical colleges, and teaching institutes will apply to the Maharashtra Medical Council on a designated application form. The application should be accompanied by the complete program of the webinar including the names, designation, and Country of the speakers and the subject of speech as per guidelines by MMC. (in the format.)

13. Accreditation/Credit points to be awarded will be the sole discretion of the Maharashtra Medical Council and will depend upon the subject matter, Status of the speaker, Quality of the CME to be presented in the webinar.

14. It will be the responsibility of accredited organizations to see that adequate standards are maintained.

15. All the speakers in the webinar should be accredited speakers by MMC or of national/international repute.

16. The webinars should not have any product/person advertisement or company/ hospital/individual propaganda material.

17. The accredited organization will be held responsible for any irregularity in the webinar submitted to MMC.

1.8. Payment: - 1000/- per day webinar to be paid in advance to MMC account online, once the webinar is accepted for credit hours and 7 days before the actual transmission of the webinar.

19. Post webinar accredited associations, organizations, medical colleges, and teaching institutes should send the excel sheet with Name of RMP, MMC Registration number/any other State Medical Council registration number or MCI registration number and payment of 10/- per RMP per credit hours along with screenshots taken to MMC office within 15 days of the webinar to be sent by email, for avoiding any delay in conducting further webinars. The hard copies of the excel sheet to be sent by post to MMC within one month.

20. The organization will be required to preserve the recording of the whole Webinar for a minimum period of 6 months and the same to be made available to MMC if demand arises.

21, Regular review (Performance Audit) will be done of such organizations by MMC.

22. All other guidelines prescribed for physical CPD's on the MMC website will be applicable wherever required for Webinar Guidelines.

To view the official notice, click on the link mentioned below

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/pdf_upload-133803.pdf

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Speaking on the development, Dr Shivkumar Utture, President of MMC told 'The Hitavada', "MMC cannot act as Head Master in school. But yes the issue of proper attendance was before us. Members may get themselves registered for the activity and by showing face would leave, was the issue. Now, they have to register themselves with the association the one which would organise the activity and have to participate in the webinar."