BOSTON, April 4, 2019 – NEJM Knowledge+ was recently awarded an educational grant from the Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) Program Companies to extend the delivery of high-quality continuing medical education to health care providers. This program, provided free of charge, aims to help health care providers implement safer strategies for pain management. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that manufacturers of drugs with potentially serious risks provide various forms of REMS to ensure that the benefits outweigh those risks; this REMS program is among the first to use education to do so.

NEJM Knowledge+, in partnership with the Boston University School of Medicine SCOPE of Pain and Area9 Lyceum, offers a unique adaptive learning resource to provide a barrier-free way for practicing clinicians to meet their state CME requirements and improve patient care. The Pain Management and Opioids CME module covers the FDA’s Opioid Analgesic REMS Education Blueprint for Health Care Providers Involved in the Treatment and Monitoring of Patients with Pain. Delivery of this new module free of charge, allows it to be widely accessible to health care providers in the U.S. and around the world.

“At NEJM Group, we believe in education as a way to improve health,” said Dr. Ole-Petter Riksfjord Hamnvik, Education Editor for NEJM Group and Program Director for the Endocrinology Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “With the receipt of this grant, we are pleased to be able to offer free training on pain management and safer opioid use. We see this training as part of a larger effort to reduce opioid prescriptions where possible, while ensuring safer prescribing of opioid analgesics when indicated.”

“We see this as an important milestone in our partnership with NEJM Group to help solve large societal challenges by providing adaptive learning to as many health care providers as possible,” said Dr. Ulrik Juul Christensen, Chairman & CEO of Area9 Lyceum.

Many U.S. states now require that practicing clinicians earn continuing medical education credits on the topic of pain management and safer prescribing as part of their renewal cycle. This free online educational module allows clinicians to meet many of those requirements and ensure that they can provide the best clinical care for their patients. The content was created by clinicians, including pain management experts and addiction specialists, to reflect the types of clinical cases health care providers might experience in everyday practice.

The newly created NEJM Knowledge+ Pain Management and Opioids module launched on April 3 and is available through the NEJM Knowledge+ website at knowledgeplus.nejm.org.

About NEJM Knowledge+

NEJM Knowledge+ is a unique adaptive learning platform with products designed to help clinicians meet certification requirements, prepare for the board exams, and incorporate lifelong learning into their schedules more easily. NEJM Knowledge+ is produced by NEJM Group, a division of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

For more information visit knowledgeplus.nejm.org.

About NEJM Group

NEJM Group creates high-quality medical resources for research, learning, practice, and professional development. Designed to meet the demand for essential medical knowledge and innovation among academic researchers and teachers, physicians, clinicians, executives, and others in health care, NEJM Group products include the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM Journal Watch, NEJM Knowledge+, NEJM Catalyst, NEJM Resident 360, and NEJM 医学前沿 (Yi Xue Qian Yan). NEJM Group is a division of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

For more information, visit nejmgroup.org.

About Opioid Analgesics REMS

The FDA Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for opioids leverages accredited CE to address the opioid crisis. The FDA requires manufacturers of opioid analgesics, known as the REMS Program Companies (RPC), to make education available for all health care providers (HCPs) who are involved in the management of patients with pain, including nurses and pharmacists. MMS received an independent educational grant from the Opioid Analgesic REMS Program Companies.

This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from the Opioid Analgesic REMS Program Companies. Please see https://ce.opioidanalgesicrems.com/RpcCEUI/rems/pdf/resources/List_of_RPC_Companies.pdf for a listing of REMS Program Companies. This activity is intended to be fully compliant with the Opioid Analgesic REMS education requirements issued by the US Food and Drug Administration.

About Area9 Lyceum

Area9 Lyceum builds 21st century skills and competencies through the world’s first four-dimensional learning platform, Area9 Rhapsode™. Based on more than 20 years of research into human factors and cognition, Area9 Lyceum’s AI-based platform delivers truly personalized learning at scale – cutting training time in half, guaranteeing proficiency and making lasting impacts on careers and business outcomes.

For more information visit: www.area9lyceum.com