Updated conflict of interest disclosure process for educational events

COI

AO has recently revised the disclosure process to meet accreditor standards as defined by the accreditation authorities for continuing education in Europe and North America (EACCME, ACCME)


What has changed:

Change 1

The disclosure pages on the AO website provides more guidance to ensure that faculty disclose ALL financial relationships with an ineligible company (any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients within the last 36 months.

Take a look at the page on your AO Dashboard Disclosures 

Change 2

Non-bias attestation statements are included in faculty event invitations to ensure minimization of bias in education. All invited contributors must review and confirm these statements.

Get familiar with the non-bias attestation statements:

Change 3

The resolution options have been reduced to four.

  • Disclosure of conflicts and non-bias attestation 

  • Altering content assignment and non-bias attestation 

  • Peer-review / independent content validation

  • Conflict unresolvable (exclusion from event)


For guidance on the resolution look at the coi_guide-for-resolver.pdf or watch the videos:

This 3-minute video provides a definition of conflicts of interest and the description of the disclosure process.

This 2.5-minute video outlines the key elements of the resolution/mitigation process, supplemented with practical examples.

Resources