I Never Knew TMA: Offered a Wealth of CME
By Phil West Texas Medicine December 2024

Michael Sprintz, DO, was recruited by the Texas Medical Association to create CME courses on chronic pain and addiction – and as a believer in what continuing education provides physicians, he was enthusiastic to take part.

“I’ve seen that technology advances and the research volume has exploded exponentially, in terms of the availability of new data and information in the health care space. CME has become more and more important for me to be up to date on the latest best practices.

“Technology has enabled CME to be easily accessible, more interesting, and helps me better retain the information,” the Woodlands pain and addiction specialist added.

CME is one of TMA’s most abundant membership benefits. Cheryl Krhovjak, director of the TMA Education Center, points out the “multiple delivery systems” for its offerings suit a wide range of doctors.

For those who want to network at TMA conferences like TexMed and Business of Medicine Conference, the association hosts numerous education opportunities. For those who want a more self-paced experience, TMA provides more than 100 CME offerings online, including downloadable PDFs, on-demand webinars, and even a “CME to Go” option, delivered in podcast form allowing physicians to learn while commuting.

“The CME, for the most part, is on demand, 24/7,” Ms. Krhovjak said. “Whenever they want it, it’s available to them.”

And yet, it’s still untapped by a majority of TMA members; Ms. Krhovjak notes that just between 1% and 5% of membership takes part.

Thanks to a grant from TMA Insurance Trust, the great majority of TMA’s CME programs are free to members. That includes offerings in all categories required by the Texas Medical Board toward its requirement of 48 credits every 24 months, with at least 24 of those in Formal Category 1 or 1A (including two hours of medical ethics and/or professional responsibility, two hours in pain management and the prescription of opioids, and a course on human trafficking).

“Every renewal period, physicians have to have so many credits, and they have to cover certain topics,” Ms. Krhovjak said. “Members can get the CME credit they need that’s required by the TMB for free.”

While some of TMA’s CME offerings have been in response to federal and state requirements, others were developed to address emerging trends.

At this year’s Business of Medicine Conference, for example, TMA offered two different sessions addressing artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented intelligence.

“AI is definitely one of the hot topics, and it’s been at the last two conferences,” said Ms. Krhovjak.

In coordination with TMA’s new AI consultants to the Committee on Health Information Technology, the Education Center will be offering “CME to Go” courses geared toward those who need an introduction to AI as well as those familiar with it but who haven’t yet adopted it in their practices.

Andre Chen, MD, a Round Rock family medicine physician turned addiction medicine specialist, noted, “CME is actually what got me into this specialty. It turned out I had an interest, took the CME, took more, and then it turned out that I was halfway to becoming board certified, just having done some of the CME.”

He continues to take web-based offerings through TMA, and has been enlisted to create CME as well, designing it to be “informal and practical” rather than “dry and academic.”

According to Casey Harrison, associate vice president of TMA’s Physician Education Services, some of the most important and popular courses that TMA offers promote health and wellness and combat physician burnout. The association even delivers personal finance courses that, while not CME-eligible, can provide helpful insights for physicians going beyond the association’s myriad business of medicine options.

The association seeks input from member physicians on which CME topics should be covered, including ones physicians can teach and those they simply want to know more about.