The growing complexity surrounding healthcare meetings has prompted two organizations to offer specialized certification for those in the industry.
The Professional Meeting Planners Network (PMPN), a Durham, N.C.-based organization of 1,500 independent meeting planners, has just launched a Certified Medical Meeting Manager (CMMM) program available to both independent and in-house planners involved with medical meetings.
Organized into three modules, the program is a self-study course that culminates in an online exam. The subject matter addresses adult learning issues in the continuing medical education field, medical meetings logistics and medical meeting regulations.
According to Montague, the complex and changeable nature of government regulations imposed on the medical/pharmaceutical industries in recent times is the key reason that PMPN is launching the program.
“There are so many regulations surrounding medical meetings now that planners want to make sure they are compliant,” he says. “We don’t go into great detail about the regulations, as those are left up to the client to interpret. However, you have to have a basic understanding of the regulations and know what questions to ask your clients.”
Montague says the program is being created in response to heavy demand from PMPN members.
“About 80 percent of what we do involves medical or pharmaceutical meetings,” he says. “Medical meetings are a huge area and really need specialized education.”
At the same time, planners working for healthcare corporations and organizations are also encouraged to participate, he says.
The Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association (HCEA) recently partnered with the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA) to create a new certification program for healthcare exhibitors. The new designation, CME-H, is a spinoff of TSEA’s CME (Certified Manager of Exhibits) program.
“Medical meetings represent the largest segment of the trade show industry—a quarter of all events—and their issues are complex and unique,” says HCEA Executive Vice President Eric Allen. “For instance, healthcare exhibitions are the only type of trade show where sales are not allowed on the floor. And since healthcare exhibit marketing is such a highly regulated activity, we increasingly became convinced that a specific certification was needed.”
For More Info
Professional Meeting Planners Network www.pmpn.com
Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association www.hcea.org
