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Purpose

The AATS Clinical Trials Methods Course provides an intensive and interactive training program for cardiothoracic surgeons across all subspecialties (adult cardiac, congenital, and thoracic) to acquire the critical skills required in effective clinical trial design and implementation. This course is particularly suited to help professionals who are considering applying for clinical trial funding to better understand the complex nature of preparing and submitting clinical trial proposals.

ACCME Accreditation Statement

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery designates this live activity for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Desired Learning Outcomes

At the end of this activity, participants will be able to:

  1. Gain the necessary skillset for setting up and lead a successful clinical trials program at their institution;
  2. Learn statistical methodology, finances, and administrative skills for a running viable clinical trials program;
  3. Examine the complexities of the study section review process and asses / interpret clinical trials and current areas of focus at both the institution and government level;
  4. Design their own clinical trial proposal.

Successful completion of this CME activity enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME requirement of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.

**American Board of Surgery Update**

In February 2023, The American Board of Surgery (ABS) announced that, as of July 1, 2023, all CME will be automatically transferred to the ABS through the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) PARS system. This is part of their ongoing commitment to reduce the administrative burden on diplomates and enhance the value of the ABS Continuous Certification Program. As part of this improvement, the manual reporting feature (the ability to individually input CME information) in the ABS portal will no longer be necessary and is now retired. Another change in process is the AATS must report the CME you claim for activities within 30 days.

More information, including the original press release from ABS may be found here.

**American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) Update**

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the ABTS are please to announce its collaboration to streamline physicians CME reporting requirements for Continuing Certification. Starting in November 2023, all accredited CME providers in the ACCME system are welcome to register CME activities that meet ABTS Continuing Certification requirements and to submit learner completion data in the Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS). Physicians can now browse activities registered for ABTS Continuing Certification credit in the CME Passport, an online CME search tool. The ABTS joins nine other ABMS member boards who have transition to PARS for Continuing Certification. This collaboration should minimize the amount of time Diplomates spend on CME record-keeping for Continuing Certification.