How many credit hours need to be in patient safety or risk management?

Twelve (12) credit hours are needed in patient safety or risk management.

Do the patient safety or risk management credit hours need to be in Category 1 or Category 2?

According to the regulations, patient safety or risk management credit hours can be in either Category 1 or Category 2.

If I have 12 Category 1 credit hours in patient safety or risk management topics, may I count these for both the Category 1 requirement and the patient safety/risk management requirement?

Yes. If any of the patient-safety credit hours that a physician has earned are Category 1 credit hours, they can be counted toward both the Category 1 requirement and the patient safety/risk management requirement.

How do I know if a CME activity is patient safety or risk management?

The following list of topics that will satisfy the patient safety/risk management requirement:

  • Improving medical records and record keeping
  • Reducing medical errors
  • Professional conduct and ethics
  • Improving communication among physicians with other healthcare personnel
  • Communication between physicians and patients
  • Preventive medicine education
  • Healthcare quality improvement

As long as the CME activity falls within these topics, you can count it toward the patient safety/risk management requirement. The course does not have to state, and very likely may not, that it is a patient safety or risk management course.