Continuing Medical Education Underrepresents United States' Leading Public Health Concerns

IntroductionContinuing medical education (CME) is beneficial to physicians in managing public health problems, yet CME courses rarely address these topics. The purpose of our study was to assess whether leading public health problems, in alignment with their burdens on society, have a proportionate amount of CME opportunities for healthcare professionals. MethodsWe reviewed all of the CME courses offered by the top 10 research and top 10 primary care medical schools from January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019 for CME hours directed toward the leading public health problems: obesity, smoking, substance abuse, heart disease, COPD, lung cancer, back pain, depression, and diabetes. ResultsOf 9355 total CME course hours, dedicated course time, along with the number of individuals affected, and the cost to society, respectively were: obesity 118 (1.3%) hours, 93 million, $147 billion, tobacco cessation 75 (0.8%) hours, 34 million, $300 billion, and substance abuse 157 (1.7%) hours, 43 million, $300 billion. DiscussionPublic health problems were grossly underrepresented in the amount of dedicated course time compared to their burden on society. More CME courses offerings addressing management of the leading public health problems would likely reduce the burden of illnesses associated with those conditions.