NECHA is obligated to the organizations that grant us CE accreditation/approval to ensure that all educational activities are developed and presented with independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor. It is our responsibility to ensure that they are free from promotion of specific goods or services, and that they are free from actual or potential bias.
The potential for conflicts of interest exists when an individual has the ability to control or influence the content of an educational activity and has a financial relationship with a commercial interest, the products or services of which are pertinent to the content of the educational activity. NECHA is responsible for resolving any identified actual or potential conflicts of interest during the planning and implementation phases of an educational activity.
All presenters must disclose all relevant relationships with any commercial interest, during the time when the relationship is in effect and for 12 months afterward. All information disclosed must be shared by NECHA with the participants/learners prior to the start of the educational activity.
Commercial interest, as defined by ANCC, is any entity producing, marketing, reselling or distributing healthcare goods or services consumed by or used on patients, or an entity that is owned or controlled by an entity that produces, markets, resells or distributes healthcare goods or services consumed by or used on patients. Additional entities that are considered by NECHA to be commercial interests include for-profit entities that develop, produce, market, or distribute products and services that promote wellness, and that provide administrative products and/or services used in student health.
Relevant relationships, as defined by ANCC, are relationships with a commercial interest if the products or services of the commercial interest are related to the content of the educational activity.