AASLD, in collaboration with The Liver Meeting® Program Chairs and Planning Committees will review all faculty and abstract presenter disclosures prior to the meeting. Any potential conflicts of interest (COI) will be managed via the following:
- Slide Review of any presentations flagged during review for any potential Conflicts of Interest
- Performed one – two months prior to the meeting
- COI Policy Reminder of AASLD’s Disclosure Policies.
- Session Audit of the presentation at the meeting.
* Presenters must comply with requests to submit their slides one – two months prior to the meeting. Any slides not received may result in the removal of your presentation from the program. At the conclusion of the slide review, presenters may be asked to alter the content of their presentation to ensure balance and eliminate any perception(s) of commercial bias.
All faculty member disclosures will be made available to attendees in advance of the meeting in The Liver Meeting® Online Planner and included in each presenter’s presentation.
AASLD follows ACCME’s policy on content validation for CME activities, which requires:
- All recommendations for patient care in accredited continuing education must be based on current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning, while giving a fair and balanced view of diagnostic and therapeutic options.
- All scientific research referred to, reported, or used in accredited education in support or justification of a patient care recommendation must conform to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
- Although accredited continuing education is an appropriate place to discuss, debate, and explore new and evolving topics, these areas need to be clearly identified as such within the program and individual presentations. It is the responsibility of accredited providers to facilitate engagement with these topics without advocating for, or promoting, practices that are not, or not yet, adequately based on current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning.
- Organizations cannot be accredited if they advocate for unscientific approaches to diagnosis or therapy, or if their education promotes recommendations, treatment, or manners of practicing healthcare that are determined to have risks or dangers that outweigh the benefits or are known to be ineffective in the treatment of patients.
When an unlabeled use of a commercial product or an investigational use not yet approved for any purpose is discussed during an educational activity, the presenter shall disclose to the audience that the product is not labeled for the use under discussion or that the product is still being investigational, in accordance with the ACCME standards and the Food and Drug Administration requirements.
Commercial Interest: A commercial interest is defined as any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.
Financial Relationships: The ACCME requires anyone in control of CME content to disclose relevant financial relationships to the accredited provider. Individuals must also include in their disclosure the relevant financial relationships of a spouse or partner. The ACCME defines relevant financial relationships as financial relationships in any amount that create a conflict of interest and that occurred in the twelve-month period preceding the time that the individual was asked to assume a role controlling the content of the CME activity. The ACCME has not set a minimal dollar amount—any amount, regardless of how small, creates the incentive to maintain or increase the value of the relationship. Financial relationships are those relationships in which the individual benefits by receiving a salary, royalty, intellectual property rights, consulting fee, honoraria for promotional speakers’ bureau, ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options, or other ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds), or other financial benefits. Financial benefits are usually associated with roles such as employment, management position, independent contractor (including contracted research), consulting, speaking and teaching, membership on advisory committees or review panels, board membership, and other activities from which remuneration is received, or expected.
Relevant Financial Relationships: The ACCME defines "'relevant' financial relationships" as financial relationships in any amount occurring within the past 12 months that create a conflict of interest.
Financial Conflict of Interest: The ACCME considers financial relationships to create conflicts of interest in CME when individuals have both a financial relationship with a commercial interest and the opportunity to affect the content of CME about the products or services of that commercial interest. The potential for maintaining or increasing the value of the financial relationship with the commercial interest creates an incentive to influence the content of the CME—an incentive to insert commercial bias.
