• Only physician organizations are eligible to apply for credits.
• Physicians must be the primary target audience of the CPD activity, which must address at least one of the CanMEDS and/or CanMEDS-FM competencies for physicians. See details.
• Applications from pharmaceutical, medical communications, or for-profit companies will not be accepted.
• For Mainpro+ credits for non-UBC activities (see SPC role declarations) please apply directly to the BC Chapter of the CFPC
• Applications received within 2 weeks (10 working days) or less of an activity start date will not be processed.

A non-refundable fee is charged for application reviews due at the time of submission. 

In order for UBC CPD to provide the timeliest service, and for you to avoid rush fees, please apply early. Aim to apply 2-3 months ahead of your program start date to to maximize time to advertise CPD credits.

The following fees are in effect as of Jan 1 2025 and are subject to an annual increase. The next increase will be in effect April 1 2026.

PAY ONLINE (visa or MC): ubccpd.eventsair.com/accred/payment/Site/Register

Regular processing time is 4–6 weeks after receiving a complete application package including all documentation and signatures. Please note that any missing elements will delay the process. 

Applications received 2–4 weeks before the activity are processed as “RUSH” with an additional fee.

Applications received within 2 weeks (10 working days) or less of an activity start date will not be processed.

Please note: Organizations who have not applied before may need to provide supporting documentation (e.g. Terms of Reference, constitution, meeting minutes, constitution, governance policies, etc.) demonstrating that the organization meets the required criteria of a physician organization. This may increase application processing time beyond the typical 4-6 weeks.  

A free initial 30-min educational consultation to determine the suitability of a type of CPD activity for CPD credits is available. A customized overview of processes for developing a program in accordance with the standards can be provided.

The Royal College calls the process of attaching CPD credits to a program as accreditation, while the CFPC calls it certification. Although the second term is technically correct from the perspective of what occurs for physicians, accreditation is the more common term used by CPD organizers.

CPD is a re-certification process for physicians, in lieu of annual re-certification exams. Through continuous learning, CPD enables physicians to meet their medical college’s annual professional competency requirements. This is reflected in the credit names: MOC = Maintenance of Certification, Mainpro = Maintenance of Proficiency. Earning CPD credits also contributes to physicians fulfilling legal requirements to renew their provincial medical license each year. 

 Learning format is closely related to credit type, best described by what the learner will experience, mainly either group learning or assessment. There are three kinds of assessment (knowledge, performance, or practice) and they do not match up in the credit names.

UBC CPD can provide the following formal CPD credit types on behalf of the two national medical colleges:

Royal College specialist credits:

• MOC Section 1 Group Learning: Programs with group interactivity
• MOC Section 3 Assessment: Programs that objectively assess knowledge (SAP) or performance (SIM) of learners

CFPC family physician credits:

• Mainpro+ Certified: Programs with group interactivity OR programs that objectively knowledge or performance of learners
• Mainpro+ Certified Assessment: Programs for family physicians to assess their own practice (not equivalent to MOC Section 3)  

Each college has its own credit framework of all CPD activities available for Canadian physicians. 

Notes

UBC CPD can only provide CPD credits for content that has been determined through a needs assessment. There is no blanket accreditation for undecided or unknown content. 

CPD programs must address at least one CanMEDS role. 
See Address CanMEDS Roles

CPD credits are only for the learners
The need assessment identifies learning gaps of the intended target audience of physician learners. SPC members, speakers, facilitators, instructors, etc. are not eligible to receive the same formal CPD credits attached to an accredited program and instead may claim self-learning credits with their medical college.

Meetings that are 100% interactive, in which everyone has equal input, are not eligible for the formal credits that UBC CPD can provide. An activity that is a needs assessment/planning session is often the phase prior to arriving at the final program that may be eligible for CPD credits. 

For most credit types, one (1) credit hour usually equals one (1) hour of educational time.  The number credits attached to a program are counted as the maximum that a single learner would be able to attend/complete without repeats. For example:

• Multiple workshops over an afternoon are counted once
• Programs that are repeatedly run over an accreditation period are counted one time
• For a series of sessions, add up all the sessions to obtain a total for the series
• For modular programs (ie. run in any order), add up all the sessions to obtain a total for the program

Educational hours 
To count the educational hours: for a group learning program, include the 25% interactivity; for an assessment program (eg. online modules, eLearning), validate the credit count by having few physicians complete the module and take an average time. 

Credits count excludes the following: lunch, breaks, traditional welcome, planning meetings, AGMs, networking, exhibits, acknowledgment of sponsors, social time, etc.

Program content must be determined prior to submitting an application. As a CACME-accredited provider, UBC CPD cannot accredit unknown or undecided content. 
Once content has been accredited, a program (or portions of it) may be repeatedly run by program organizers, to a new audience, within the program's accreditation period, as long as no changes have been made. 

The accreditation period is one (1) year beginning from program start date on application. The following delivery options are available within the accreditation period:

Single Program

Occurs one time Eg. annual conference. Annual programs require a new application each year.

Repeated Program

An accredited program can be repeated to a new audience throughout the accreditation period as long as the content is unchanged. (Learners may not claim additional credits for repeat attendance.)

Series 

A series of sessions for which content has been planned and finalized prior to application. Each session has different content, but the content has been confirmed. This may also be regularly scheduled series (RSS). Topics and learning objectives for the full series, based on the learning gaps identified in the initial needs assessment, are required. UBC CPD can accredit a series for both Mainpro+ and MOC credits under a single application, but only if the content to be presented is known at the time of application.
NOTE: For Mainpro+ credits, this is the most appropriate route for hosting a series outside a hospital setting. 

Modular programs

Same idea as a series, but non-sequential. UBC CPD can accredited a program consisting of several modules (sessions) which may be selected to run as needed throughout the accreditation period.

Rounds

The term ‘rounds’ is reserved for a clinical setting. Rounds are a special subset of regularly scheduled activities in which the content is open to change each session. Because of the leeway in content, rounds require extra accountability and hospital affiliation. The SPC for hospital/clinical rounds must be accountable to the department head, chief of staff, or equivalent, otherwise the content must be determined in order to apply as a series instead (see above).
Note: Specialist rounds cannot be accredited through UBC CPD. Specialist rounds can be self-accredited with the Royal College directly: Royal College rounds self-approval.

RELATED: See Deliver Program > Certificates

No reference to MOC or Mainpro+ credits may be made prior to the official approval. Until an application has been approved, it is not permissible to indicate in marketing and communications that credits have been granted, applied for, or pending. The statement "to be advised", or similar, is not permitted.

The summary of yes/no responses to the industry bias question on the evaluations must be forwarded to UBC CPD within three months following the CPD Activity.