WAC 246-919-430  General requirements.

(1) Licensed physicians must complete two hundred hours of continuing education every four years as required in chapter 246-12 WAC, Part 7.

(2) In lieu of the two hundred hours of continuing medical education, the commission will accept a current Physician's Recognition Award from the American Medical Association or a current certificate from any specialty board approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) which is considered by the specialty board as equivalent to the two hundred hours of continuing medical education required under WAC 246-919-430(1).  The commission will also accept certification or recertification by a specialty board as the equivalent of two hundred hours of continuing medical education.  A list of the approved specialty boards are designated in the 1995 Official American Boards of Medical Specialty Director of Board Certified Medical Specialist and will be maintained by the commission.  The list shall be made available upon request.  The certification or recertification must be obtained in the four years preceding application for renewal.

WAC 246-919-450  Categories of creditable continuing medical education activities.
 The following are categories of creditable continuing medical education activities approved by the commission:

Category I    Continuing medical education 
    activities with accredited sponsorship

Category II   Continuing medical education activities
    with nonaccredited sponsorship (maximum
    of eighty hours)

Category III  Teaching of physicians or other allied 
    health professionals (maximum of eighty 
    hours)

Category IV   Books, papers, publications, exhibits 
    (maximum of eighty hours)

Category V    Self-directed activities:  Self-assessment,
    self-instruction, specialty board 
    examination preparation, quality of care
    and/or utilization review (maximum of
    eighty hours).

WAC 246-919-460  Continuing medical education requirement. 

(1) The credits must be earned in the forty-eight-month period preceding application for renewal of licensure.

(2)(a) Category I:  Continuing medical education activities with accredited sponsorship.  The commission has approved the standards adopted by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education or its designated interstate accrediting agency, the Washington State Medical Association, in accrediting organizations and institutions offering continuing medical education programs, and will accept attendance at such programs offered by organizations and institutions offering continuing medical education programs, and will accept attendance at such programs offered by organizations and institutions so recognized as Category I credit towards the licensee's continuing medical education requirement for annual renewal of licensure.  The licensee may earn all two hundred credit hours in Category I.

(b) Category II:  Continuing medical education activities with nonaccredited sponsorship.  A maximum of eighty credit hours may be earned by attendance at continuing medical education programs that are not approved in accordance with the provisions of Category I.

(c) Category III:  Teaching of physicians or other allied health professionals.  A maximum of eighty credit hours may be earned for serving as an instructor of medical students, house staff, other physicians or allied health professionals from a hospital or institution with a formal training program if the hospital or institution has approved the instruction.

(d) Category IV:  Books, papers, publications, exhibits.

(i) A maximum of eighty credit hours may be earned under Category IV, with specific subcategories listed below.  Credit may be earned only during the forty-eight-month period following presentations or publications.

(ii) Ten credit hours may be claimed for a paper, exhibit, publication, or for each chapter of a book that is authored and published.  A paper must be published in a recognized medical journal.  A paper that is presented at a meeting or an exhibit that is shown must be to physicians or allied health professionals.  Credit may be claimed only once for the scientific materials presented.  Credit should be claimed as of the date materials were presented or published.

 Medical editing can not be accepted in this or any other category for credit.

(e) Category V:  Self-directed activities.

(i) A maximum of eighty credit hours may be earned under Category V.

(ii) Self-assessment:  Credit hours may be earned for completion of a multimedia medical education program.

(iii) Self-instruction:  Credit hours may be earned for the independent reading of scientific journals and books.

(iv) Specialty board examination preparation:  Credit hours may be earned for preparation for specialty board certification or recertification examinations.

(v) Quality care and/or utilization review:  Credit hours may be earned for participation on a staff committee for quality of care and/or utilization review in a hospital or institution or government agency.