DISCLOSURE POLICY
As a provider accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) must ensure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all of their directly provided or jointly provided/co-provided educational activities. Planners, presenters, and other contributors, in a position to control the content are required to disclose to the audience all relevant financial relationships he/she and/or his/her spouse or domestic partner may have, occurring within the past 12 months, with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients. When an unlabeled use of a commercial product or an investigational use not yet approved for any purpose is discussed during an educational activity, the contributor should disclose that the product is not labeled for the use under discussion or that the product is still investigational. ACCF is committed to providing its learners with high-quality activities and materials that promote improvements and quality in health care and not a specific proprietary business or commercial interest. The intent of this disclosure is not to prevent participation in educational activities by persons with a financial or other relationship, but rather to provide learners with information on which they can make their own determination whether financial interests or relationships may influence the education activity.
ACCF assesses conflicts of interest (COI) with its faculty, planners, managers, staff and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of CME/CNE activities. All relevant potential conflicts of interest that are identified are thoroughly vetted through a process that includes course directors and appropriate peer review by education committee chairs/members, for fair balance, scientific objectivity and validity, and patient care and safety recommendations.
