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CPA Tightens Rules on Scientific Program for 2003 Annual Meeting Scientific program sessions of the CPA’s annual meeting that receive unrestricted educational grants will undergo additional scrutiny this year, says the Annual Meeting Program Chair, Dr. Susan Abbey. The annual meeting is set to run Oct. 30 to Nov. 2 in Halifax, and as in previous years, several scientific program sessions will receive funding from industry. However, this year the CPA has implemented new guidelines for these sponsored sessions to ensure balanced content within the scientific program. “As the sponsoring medical organization for the annual meeting, the CPA must ensure that the scientific program content adheres to CMA and Royal College guidelines,” says Dr. Abbey. The CPA adapted the existing cosponsored symposium review process for use with industry-sponsored scientific program sessions. Key components of the new process include an expert content review and final event approval by a physician assessor in terms of overall content and compliance with Maintenance of Certification Section 1 criteria. Sessions are also monitored on-site for compliance with approval requirements. “We are the only national specialty society that does this level of peer review of our scientific program,” says Alex Saunders, CEO of the CPA. “This means we can offer our members a very high-quality scientific program at our annual meeting.” All funds and honoraria related to the sponsored sessions must be transferred to the CPA for disbursement to speakers, and full budgetary disclosure is required. The CPA has also curtailed supplementary publicity for, and company marketing at, these sessions. “We’ve received positive feedback from the membership on the move by the CPA this year to tighten the rules on the scientific program sessions that receive unrestricted educational grants,” says Dr. Abbey. “The CPA takes this role to ensure that the material presented in its scientific program is unbiased and scientifically valid.” DV/KH |