Most clinicians know they need CME hours, but fewer know which activities actually earn them. Here is what counts as CME, format by format, using the definitions the AMA and the ACCME (the national accreditor for CME providers) publish themselves, plus the common activities that don’t count at all.
The short answer
- CME is education that maintains or builds the knowledge, skills, and professional performance a physician uses to serve patients, the public, or the profession. That’s the AMA’s own definition.
- Certified formats include live courses, regularly scheduled series, enduring materials (on-demand self-study), journal-based CME, performance improvement, internet point-of-care learning, test item writing, and manuscript review.
- For AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, an ACCME-accredited or state medical society-accredited provider has to certify the activity. Format alone doesn’t make something count.
- Learning from patient care, committee work, mentoring, mission work, or passing an exam on its own doesn’t earn credit.
- Your state board or certifying board decides which credit it accepts, so check its rules before you plan your hours.
What counts as CME: the starting definition
The AMA defines CME as “educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public or the profession.” That definition is in the AMA’s Physician’s Recognition Award and credit system booklet, the reference most accredited providers work from.
The definition is broad on purpose. Nonclinical topics such as office management, patient-physician communication, and faculty development can qualify when they suit a physician audience and benefit the profession, patient care, or public health.
Most boards care about whether an activity earned AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. That credit comes from accredited providers, while Category 2 is something physicians claim for themselves. Our guide to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ covers the two categories in detail, so this article sticks to formats.
The activity formats that can earn CME credit
The ACCME and AMA each keep their own list of activity types, and the names don’t always match. The table puts them side by side, with the AMA’s credit rule for each format as its booklet describes it.
| Format | What it is | How credit is figured (AMA booklet) |
|---|---|---|
| Live course | A one-off event you attend in real time, in person or streamed | 1 credit per 60 minutes of instruction, in quarter-credit steps |
| Regularly scheduled series | Recurring live sessions, such as weekly grand rounds | Same as live activities |
| Enduring material | On-demand content with no set time or place | Based on the average time a sample of learners takes to finish it |
| Journal-based CME | Reading a certified article in a peer-reviewed journal | 1 credit per article |
| Performance improvement | A three-stage project measuring and improving your own practice | 20 credits for all three stages (5 for stage A, 10 for A and B) |
| Internet point-of-care | Self-directed online searching tied to a clinical question | 0.5 credit per search |
| Test item writing | Helping write exam or self-assessment questions | 10 credits per activity |
| Manuscript review | Critically reviewing a journal manuscript before publication | 3 credits per review |
| Other | A format that meets the AMA’s core requirements but fits none of the above | 1 credit per hour, based on the provider’s best estimate |
Live activities
The ACCME describes a live course as an activity “where the learner participates in real time,” planned as an individual event, either in person or live-streamed. Annual meetings, one-off conferences, and seminars all fit. A webinar counts as live if it happens at a scheduled time.
A regularly scheduled series is the same idea repeated: a live activity “planned as a series with multiple, ongoing sessions,” offered weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Hospital grand rounds and tumor boards are the usual examples.
Enduring materials and self-study
An enduring material is “an on-demand activity that does not have a specific time or location designated for participation.” You decide whether and when to complete it. The ACCME lists online modules, recorded presentations, printed materials, and podcasts as examples.
This is the self-study category. A recorded lecture you take at home on a Sunday earns credit the same way a seminar does, as long as an accredited provider certified it and you complete whatever assessment it requires. The AMA bases the credit amount on how long the activity takes a typical learner, not on how long you spent.
Journal-based CME
The ACCME defines journal-based CME as an activity “planned and presented by an accredited provider” in which the learner reads one or more articles from a peer-reviewed journal. The key word is planned. The article has to be certified before publication, so reading a journal on your own doesn’t qualify for Category 1 credit.
Performance improvement
Performance improvement and quality improvement activities follow three stages. You learn the relevant performance measures and assess your practice against them, make changes over a meaningful period, then reassess using the same measures. These projects take months, which is why the AMA assigns them more credit than any other single format.
Internet point-of-care learning
The ACCME calls this internet searching and learning: “self-directed, online learning on topics relevant to their clinical practice from a database whose content has been vetted by an accredited CME provider.” You document the clinical question, the sources you used, and how the answer applies to your patients. A random web search doesn’t qualify. The database has to be one an accredited provider set up for this purpose.
Test item writing and manuscript review
These two formats reward physicians who contribute to the profession’s educational infrastructure. Test item writing means helping develop questions for exams or peer-reviewed self-assessments. Manuscript review means critically reviewing an assigned manuscript during a journal’s pre-publication review. Both require a certifying accredited provider, as every other format here does.
Teaching and other faculty work
Physicians who prepare and present original material at a certified live activity can claim credit for it. The AMA’s credit system requirements page says that for eligible activities on or after January 1, 2023, “Physicians may now claim up to four credits per each hour of presentation.” The ratio used to be 2 to 1. The AMA explainer linked above covers this and the other credit physicians can claim directly from the AMA.
What does not count as CME
The AMA booklet is specific about incidental learning. You can’t claim credit for:
- Learning that happens through everyday clinical experience.
- Charity or mission work.
- Mentoring.
- Surveying.
- Serving on a committee, council, task force, board, or similar workgroup.
- Passing an exam that isn’t built into a certified activity.
Promotional content doesn’t count either. Certified CME must be nonpromotional and planned to be free of commercial bias. The AMA also bars certification of education that advocates alternative therapies without scientific evidence or general professional acceptance of their safety and efficacy.
Watch the labels, too. An organization that isn’t accredited may advertise “Category 1 hours” or “CMEs offered,” but only an accredited provider can certify AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. If you can’t find the accreditation statement in the activity materials, ask before you spend your time.
A note for PAs, NPs, and CRNAs
AMA PRA credit is awarded only to physicians. Other clinicians who complete a certified activity typically receive a certificate of participation. The AAPA accepts certificates of participation for activities designated for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from ACCME-accredited or state medical society-accredited providers. NPs and CRNAs follow their own certifying bodies’ rules, so check with them about which credit types they accept.
Format matters less than who certified it
A live seminar, a podcast, and a journal article can all earn the same kind of credit. What makes an activity count is that an accredited provider planned and certified it, and that you completed it as designed. Your licensing board and certifying board then decide how much of that credit they need from you and whether any of it must cover specific topics.
Travel Medical Seminars offers Audio-Digest self-study courses, which fall in the enduring material category. Audio-Digest lectures are individually designated for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ by the Lippincott Continuing Medical Education Institute, which is accredited by the ACCME. You study at your own pace and complete testing online, in a 10-credit short course or a 20-credit full course. Browse all courses, or start with internal medicine or family practice.
Sources
- AMA, The Physician’s Recognition Award and credit system (booklet)
- AMA, AMA PRA Credit System requirements
- AMA/ACCME Glossary of Terms and Definitions
- ACCME, Live Course Definition
- ACCME, Regularly Scheduled Series Definition
- ACCME, Enduring Material
- ACCME, Journal-Based CME Activities Definition
- ACCME, Performance Improvement/Quality Improvement Activities
- ACCME, How is an internet searching and learning activity defined?