Having an interest in or affiliation with any corporate organization does not prevent a faculty member, board member, or committee member from making a presentation or participating in the planning of an educational activity, but the relationship must be made known to the audience in advance. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) requires that SPA ensure that the following decisions were made free of the control of a commercial interest.

The ACCME defines a “commercial interest” as any proprietary entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients, with the exemption of non-profit or government organizations and non-health care related companies.

SPA collects disclosure information from all individuals in control of meeting content. Those who refuse to disclose this information will be disqualified from participating in the meeting. For any person who reports a relevant financial relationship, the provider uses a peer review process to resolve the potential conflict of interest. For presentations that have the greatest potential for bias, the provider will ask an independent third-party reviewer to conduct a second peer review as an additional mechanism to resolve conflicts of interest.