Potential impact of continuing medical education programming on knowledge about legislation impacting healthcare professions

Introduction: In 2024, 23 bills in the State of Florida impacted Health Care Professionals. Physicians are required to keep up with state policies continuously. Rather than the provider outlining the activity, this research study will allow physicians to outline the activity based on the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Methods: The survey was developed and disseminated to all full-time clinical faculty as well as all Clinical Affiliate Faculty members at the Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The survey was developed in Qualtrics and consisted of 17 questions, 14 of which were measured quantitively and 3 were measured qualitatively. Results: Based on the overall findings of our study, future CME courses should likely invite our state health officials to provide two courses: 1) Health Care Innovation and 2) Controlled Substances, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse. As per learner preference, both courses would be live courses that are live-streamed virtually with Learner Competence (Subjective Measurement) as the outcome that is measured each activity description would include 1) how the policy will impact their patient treatment, 2) better understand the overall policies, 3) learn about the rules and administration surrounding the new policies, and after learning the policy, and 4) how to make sure that they are following the policies and gain an expertise necessary. Conclusion: Physicians are often impacted by legislation passed at a state or national level. Our study suggests that CME activities could be an effective way to provide necessary education on legislation that affects healthcare. Lessons for Practice Allowing physicians to request specific types of CME events would help them learn about the state legislation that directly impacts their profession. The results from this research study could be translated to CME providers in every state. CME activities could be an effective way to provide necessary education on legislation that affects healthcare. Physicians, as a highly educated group of self-directed lifelong learners, may be the best people to influence their own CME programming regarding legislation.