Physicians must fulfill their continuing medical education requirements to keep their licenses current and to ensure that they give the best care to their patients. When you create a CME marketing website, you need to provide information that answers their most common questions about CME credits as well as specifics about your CME events. When properly designed, your site will contain easily accessible answers for your physician clients.
Common CME Credit Questions
Your CME website should contain the following credit information in order to be an effective marketing resource:
1. Credit Requirement Map or Links
Physicians want to know how many credits they need per year or per specified period. Each state has its own requirements, so you should either provide links to each state's CME standards or list these standards by state on your site. Doing so is a convenience for potential clients and also helps you increase enrollment for your CME courses and live events.
For instance, someone who practices in both Illinois and Missouri needs to know how these adjoining states' requirements differ. In Illinois, doctors need 150 CME credits and 60 AMA PRA Category 1 credits every three years, while Missouri requires 50 CME hours and 50 AMA PRA Category 1 hours every two years. Keeping these requirements straight can be difficult, especially for the many physicians who are licensed in multiple states.
2. How CME Credits are Calculated
You should also include a brief explanation on how CME credits are calculated - one hour for each hour of an educational activity. Obviously, non-educational activities at a conference would not count toward this total.
3. Penalties for Non-compliance
Your site should also explain the consequences of not meeting a state's CME credits. In general, physicians not in compliance may not be able to renew their licenses. They may be fined by the state that licenses them. A doctor's American Board of Medical Specialty certification might also be affected.
Information About Your CME Courses or Events
Your website should also contain the following information on your company's events or courses:
4. Credit Information
Each event or course should clearly spell out what and how many CME credits it covers and for what specialty. This information should be highlighted directly below the title of the activity.
5. Content Information
Doctors want to immediately know what will be covered in the CME activity. If it's a conference, the main speakers should be listed. If it's a course, a content synopsis should be included along with any evaluation methods.
[RELATED: Find out the top 7 factors physicians consider when choosing a CME activity.]
6. Cost and Registration
The cost needs to be listed near the content information. If the event is a convention, any additional expenses need to be clearly spelled out as well. A link to registration forms should appear under the content information.
7. Additional CME Events
You can up-sell your clients by linking them to other CME events similar to the one they are currently perusing. You can list "other CME events related to this one" to make the physician's search for credits more convenient.
Your CME website needs to clearly provide a basic FAQs section as well as a page outlining your educational offerings. As you know, doctors are extremely busy, so they want the right answers conveniently located. Your site will thrive if you remind them of what credits they need as well as offering them specific courses or events to meet these educational obligations.
PJ Calkins is a Solution Engineer. He is an expert at identifying client needs, marketing strategies and budgets. PJ has managed over 4.5 million dollars in PPC advertising and analyzed almost 1 million unique website visitors across dozens of websites & industries. Because of his lengthy experience running a small business, he also has tons of experience in problem solving and creative brainstorming.
