iMD — Your Full-Service Performance Improvement Partner
Intelligent Medical Decisions, Inc. (iMD) provides full-service Performance Improvement (PI)- CME activities to help your educational initiatives achieve higher outcomes levels.
iMD has over 25 years experience in medical education, medical practice, clinical research studies and data collection and
analysis making us uniquely qualified to help you integrate objective and independent PI-CME programs in
any therapeutic area.
iMD offers unparalleled services to assist you in all phases of a PI-CME outcomes study
Grant & Business Development:
iMD understands that a successful PI-CME activity involves close collaboration with our educational partners from start to finish. Our team is prepared to assist with all phases of developing a successful educational initiative with a PI-CME component.
Partner with iMD and benefit from our decades of experience writing CME and government research grants and our high track record of success getting QI and PI-CME grants funded. We are not just a vendor who supplies you with PI-CME grant language and a budget – we are a partner who takes an active role in getting your grant developed and funded. iMD is routinely involved in the PI-CME program design, authoring key sections of the grant, and in the business development presentation of the PI-CME program to medical societies/associations, academic medical centers, hospital systems, and industry supporters.
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PI-CME Study Design
A scientifically rigorous PI-CME study design is critical to the success of your PI-CME activity. Without a good study design you will not get meaningful, statistically significant Level 5, 6, or 7 outcomes. iMD’s medical and data analysis team will work with you and your faculty KOLs to ensure that a robust PI study design is developed. And, if your PI-CME study needs Institutional Review Boards (IRB) or legal review, iMD will use its decades of experience working with IRBs to help you navigate these potential complexities.
iMD adheres to study designs that satisfy the AMA Council on Medical Education’s rules governing how PI activities are designated for CME credit, and participants completing an entire PI initiative are eligible to receive 20 AMA PRA Category 1 credit™. The PI-CME process consists of three stages (Stages A, B, C listed below), all of which need to be completed to earn 20 credits; 5 credits will be awarded for successful completion of each stage, and an additional 5 credits will be awarded for completion of all three stages.
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Stage A: Learning from Current Practice Performance
Assessment
- Health Care Providers (HCPs) use their mobile devices or computers to enter data on 25 patients for a baseline assessment of their practice.
- iMD will analyze the data and generate a report for each HCP that compares their baseline assessment for each outcome measure against their peers and the national evidence-based guidelines for chosen therapeutic area.
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Stage B: Learning from the Application of
Performance Improvement to Patient Care
- HCPs analyze their Stage A baseline report.
- HCPs develop and implement a practice improvement plan.
- HCPs access iMD’s innovative “Ask a Mentor™” program to pose point-of-care questions to a select group of faculty mentors.
- Mentors will review questions and guide PI HCPs to appropriate educational interventions based on the HCPs self-identified barriers to optimal patient care.
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Stage C: Learning from the Evaluation of the
Performance Improvement Effort
- HCPs use their mobile devices or computers to enter data on another 25 patients to assess the effectiveness of implementing their practice improvement plan.
- iMD generates a comparative analysis report for each HCP to compare outcomes measures collected from Stage A to those collected in Stage C.
- HCPs will complete a survey evaluating their experience during the PI program. This survey will collect a short narrative describing the participant’s assessment of the success of the directed intervention(s) from Stage B, and any other reflections on why or why not the intervention(s) had an impact on patient care.
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Health Care Provider Recruitment & Training
The successful launch of your PI-CME activity depends on the motivation and enthusiasm of the HCP participants. iMD can help ensure the success of your PI-CME activity by
- Authoring promotional materials that clearly explain to HCPs the value of participating in PI-CME activities.
- Developing recruiting questionnaires that select well-qualified HCPs.
- Screening and reviewing recruiting questionnaires to select highly qualified participants.
- Following up with prospective HCPs to ensure they stay motivated and committed to your PI activity.
- Developing live and online training materials to educate HCPs on the PI-CME study design, the data collection process, and the “Ask a Mentor” program.
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Outcomes Data Collection
iMD offers a fast, convenient and easy-to-use data collection PI platform that is widely accepted by participating HCPs, overcoming a key barrier to participation in PI-CME activities - time-consuming and tedious data entry. HCPs use their mobile devices or computers to enter patient data in 3-5 minutes /patient on average. The PI platform, used in PI CME and research studies worldwide, meets IRBs requirements for privacy and security for both the HCP and their patients.
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Well-designed PI-CME activities can measure performance at the individual (level 5), patient (level 6), and community (level 7) levels and identify gaps in how HCPs evaluate and assess patients, in how successfully individual patients health is managed, and in how well all patients in a program are faring. Throughout the PI-CME activity iMD’s team will
- Perform statistical analysis of the PI study data.
- Analyze the data against the PI measurement criteria for performance gaps.
- Deliver easy-to-read reports to HCPs on how their practice compares against evidence-based guidelines and their peers.
- Provide educational partners with PI gap reports so they can prepare educational interventions.
- Provide educational partner with summary reports about participants, patients, and the community.
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Mentor Program
iMD’s unique and innovative “Ask a Mentor™” program connects HCP participants with leading medical thought leaders. Participants use their Smartphones or computers to pose their challenging clinical questions to the Mentors and receive an individualized response. All participants can review their peer’s anonymous questions and learn from the Mentors' replies. Mentors will update participants with relevant articles and resources on a periodic basis.
iMD’s team will
- Help select, invite, and train Mentors for the PI-CME activity.
- Screen, moderate, and triage participants questions to the Mentors.
- Post Mentors' replies to the “Ask a Mentor” forum.
- Notify participants of new Mentor responses.
- Moderate follow-up questions and responses.
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PI Study Management and Support
PI-CME activities, like clinical research studies, require full-time management to ensure successful outcomes. With years of experience in clinical study coordination, iMD's team ensures the highest possible HCP retention by staying in close touch with HCPs from start to finish. Throughout the entire PI-CME activity iMD's team will
- Answer HCPs’ questions about the PI activity.
- Check the quality of the collected data.
- Monitor data collection and keep HCPs informed of data entry schedules, timing of educational interventions, and of opportunities to participate in and view responses from the “Ask a Mentor” program.
- Track and document participation in the program to meet certification record-keeping requirements.
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Outcomes Publications
An outcomes publication of the results of the PI-CME activity is a key deliverable to your educational partners, accreditors and industry supports. iMD’s team has extensive experience in writing abstracts, White Papers, Outcomes Reports and peer-review articles. We can take a key role in reporting on the results or assist you as needed.
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