About PennCME / BestPractice

Mission Statement
The mission of PennCME/BestPractice is to provide a trusted, recognized, and interactive resource of practical, authoritative, and effective continuing professional development for physicians, their staff, and their patients to improve patient care and health outcomes. This is consistent with the CME mission at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania: to assist physicians in the maintenance of their commitment to life-long learning and improved patient care through the provision of high-quality CME activities and initiatives.

Educational Strategy
PennCME/BestPractice moves from episodic, fragmented CME to ongoing, reinforced, and interactive education, based on adult learning principles and knowledge from cognitive psychology. We identify clear links from needs to outcomes and recognize that achieving better quality care requires a team approach. Our strategy is to enable the physician, staff, and patient to apply new evidence to their actions so that there will be a clear impact on health outcomes.

Needs Assessment Process
PennCME/BestPractice uses a rigorous and thorough needs identification and assessment process driven increasingly by quantitative evidence over time. The needs assessment process and resulting knowledge and practice improvement goals provide the basis for content, performance improvement activities and coordinated outcomes assessment components.

Sources for knowledge, competence, and performance-based needs are identified through qualitative measures – literature search, expert opinion, and physician perception of need – and quantitative assessment of data registries and pre- and post-test results accessed in a continuous manner from participation in learning modules and from data collected in the PI CME and from Internet POC Search. We then prioritize needs to address those in which closing the gap between actual and desired outcomes will make the most difference in improving patient care.

• Alzheimer's Disease
• Asthma
• COPD
• Chronic Pain management
• Coronary Heart Disease, including lipid management 
• Depression and Anxiety
• Diabetes Type 2
• Hypertension
• HIV in primary care
• Prevention/Risk Reduction

• Hot Topics
• Clinical Reviews
• Minicases
• Simulations (SIM)
• Point of Care Internet Search CME (PoC)
• The Performance Improvement Center (PI-CME)
• PQRS (Performance Quality Reporting System)
• Patient-Centered Medical Home
• Staff Resource Center
• Patient Resource Center

Zalman S. Agus, MD, FACP, Executive Editor and Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education and Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and a recognized leader in medical education, medical journalism, and electronic media-based technologies in physician learning. Dr. Agus was previously Chief of the Renal and Electrolyte Section and Director of the Fellowship Training Program. He has published over 120 articles and textbook chapters and served as Coordinating Editor of UptoDate in Medicine. He was elected a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Mila Kostic, Chief Learning Officer and Director of the Continuing Medical Education Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is a recognized leader in academic CME. Mila has championed innovation, dramatic changes, and growth in the University of Pennsylvania CME program, resulting in exemplary accreditation status by the ACCME during its last two re-accreditation reviews. Her current interests are focused in the area of educational research in knowledge transfer and initiatives that incorporate CME into continuous quality improvement of health care professionals and their teams. She is an active member of the CME/CPD community and serves on committees of the Alliance for CME and is on the Board of the Society for Academic CME. She  publishes in the professional literature, is an invited presenter at national and international meetings and is a recipient of several prestigious awards from the Alliance for CME.  

Lewis A. Miller, MS, CCMEP, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BestPractice CPD, is a recognized entrepreneurial leader in CME and medical journalism. He founded Patient Care in 1967, which became the top journal in primary care readership; founded Milcom, a developer of medical record systems; co-founded Dowden Health Media, a medical journal publisher and a provider of CME and health education; and co-founded WentzMiller & Associates, the leading firm in global CME consulting. He was corporate editorial director of the Journal of Family Practice, OBG Management, Current Psychiatry, and Contemporary Surgery. He founded the Alliance for CME in 1975 and the Global Alliance for Medical Education (GAME) in 1996. He has been honored by both alliances.
 

Charles E. Baker, Jr., Senior Vice President and Treasurer at BestPractice CPD, is a business leader in medical communications. At the Medical Economics Company, he was in charge of Physicians' Desk Reference, Drug Topics Magazine and management of government relations. He later was president of Physician's Radio Network (PRN), the Network for Continuing Medical Education (NCME), and IMS Communications USA.
 

Denise Fantuzzi, Chief Operating Officer of BestPractice CPD, brings an expertise in refining business strategies, program management, organizational operations, and budgeting. She has more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles with health information, education, and technology organizations, including Reuters Health Information Services, ADAM, Inc., Cerner, and Clinical Care Options.
 

Academic Leadership 

Editorial Board

Joseph E. Scherger, MD, MPH

Matthew H. Rusk, MD
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
Program Director, Primary Care Program
Staff Internist
Division of General Medicine
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 

Dennis F. Saver, MD
President and Staff Physician
Primary Care of the Treasure Coast
Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
Florida State University
Vero Beach, Florida
 

Peter J. Ziemkowski, MD
Assistant Professor: Dept. of Family Medicine
College of Human Medicine
Michigan State University
Clerkship Director and Physician/Faculty
Michigan State University-Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies
Kalamazoo, Michigan

Michael A. Rackover PA-C, M.S.
Associate Program Director & Associate Professor Physician Assistant Program Philadelphia University School House Lane & Henry Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19144

Jesse A. Coale, PA-C
Assistant Professor
Philadelphia University
Hayward Hall, Suite 224
School House Lane and Henry Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa. 19144

Advisory Council

Educational Grants