CME Speaker Guidelines

Purpose
- Ensure your presentation is evidence-based, balanced, and free of commercial bias, in accordance with ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education.

Overview of Speaker Requirements
- Present valid, evidence-based content grounded in current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning.
- Provide a fair, balanced view of diagnostic and therapeutic options.
- Clearly label new, unproven, evolving, or off-label topics as such.
- Use generic drug/device names whenever possible; if trade names are used, include several from different companies.
- Exclude logos/branding/product messages from ineligible companies from slides and handouts.
- Do not promote or sell any products or services, including your own.
- Disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies from the past 24 months via the faculty disclosure form sent to you via DocuSign.
- Prepare slides according to stated guidelines. You do not need to include a disclosure slide at the start of your presentation. MHI will use information from your faculty disclosure form to prepare & present a disclosure form to learners in accordance with ACCME requirements.
- Submit prepared slides for CME review & approval prior to recording lecture. (Typically 1 week prior to intended recording date is sufficient).

Definitions
- Ineligible company: An organization whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
- Relevant financial relationship: A financial relationship with an ineligible company whose business lines or products relate to the content you control.

Content requirements:
Evidence and validity:
  - Base all clinical recommendations on current, high-quality evidence and accepted clinical reasoning.
  - Reference sources that meet standards for study design and data interpretation; distinguish levels/quality of evidence where possible.
Balance and objectivity:
  - Present the full range of reasonable diagnostic and therapeutic options, including benefits, risks, and uncertainties.
  - For controversial or evolving topics, consider a debate/dialogue format or explicitly present multiple perspectives.
Evolving or off-label topics:
  - Clearly identify any off-label use, investigational products, or evolving practices.
  - Provide the current evidence status and limitations; do not advocate for practices lacking adequate evidence.
- Language to use:
  - “The following reflects off-label use…” or “Evidence is preliminary/observational; no randomized data to date…”
  - “Potential benefits are theoretical; risks and uncertainties include…”
Prohibited content and actions:
  - No marketing language, product promotion, or sales pitches.
  - No company logos, taglines, or product graphics from ineligible companies on slides or handouts.
  - Do not limit trade names to a single company when mentioning brands.

Preventing commercial bias
Independence:
  - Content, selection of presenters, and delivery must be free from influence by ineligible companies.
  - Do not allow any ineligible company to review, edit, or fund your content directly.
Balanced terminology:
  - Prefer generic names; if using brands, list several (e.g., “apixaban, rivaroxaban, edoxaban, dabigatran”) instead of one.
Visuals:
  - Remove all ineligible company logos and brand images from educational materials. Logos of nonprofits/government agencies are acceptable.

Financial disclosure requirements:
These requirements will be satisfied by completing the faculty disclosure form sent to you via Docusign.
- Lookback period: Disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the last 24 months.
- What to disclose: Roles such as consultant, speaker, advisory board, research funding (direct to you), equity/stock options, patents/royalties, employee, etc.
- Relevance: Disclose relationships related to the content you control. Metabolic Health Initiative will assess relevance and mitigate potential bias before participation.
- Mitigation: If a relevant relationship exists, you may participate only after the provider implements mitigation steps.
Slide content checklist (use before submission):
- [ ] All clinical recommendations reflect current evidence and accepted practice.
- [ ] All diagnostic/therapeutic options are presented fairly with benefits, risks, and uncertainties.
- [ ] Off-label, investigational, or evolving content is clearly identified with evidence status and limitations.
- [ ] Generic names used; if brands are mentioned, multiple manufacturers are included.
- [ ] No ineligible company logos, product images, taglines, or promotional content.
- [ ] No calls to action to purchase or prefer a specific product or service.
- [ ] Full references included for key data (peer-reviewed sources, guidelines, high-quality studies).
- [ ] Disclosure slide included as the first content shown to learners.
- [ ] Patient images/data de-identified and permissions obtained as applicable.

Contact
Have any questions? We are happy to help!
Angela Poff, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer & Director of Continuing Education
Metabolic Health Initiative
angela@metabolichealthsummit.com
479-252-0477

Metabolic Health Initiative will review all presentations to ensure they are evidence-based, balanced, and free of commercial bias. Presenters may be asked to revise materials to meet ACCME standards before approval.”