Costs of Physician Continuous Professional Development: A Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Health Economics
• Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Background:

• Cost evaluations in physician continuous professional development (CPD) often neglect resource selection, leading to incomplete cost estimates.
• The key cost drivers and relative expenses of different instructional approaches for CPD are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the costs associated with various ingredients and instructional modalities used in physician CPD.
• To identify the most influential cost components in physician CPD.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of comparative cost evaluations of CPD for practicing physicians was conducted in April 2020.
• Data from 62 included studies, encompassing 86 interventions, were extracted and costs were converted to 2021 U.S. dollars.

Main Results:

• Faculty time, materials, administrator/staff time, and travel were the most frequently reported cost ingredients.
• Ingredient costs ranged widely, from $4 for postage to $525 for learner time per physician; faculty time and equipment were also costly.
• Expensive instructional modalities included in-person lectures and virtual patient experiences, while mailed materials and video clips were inexpensive.

Conclusions:

• Certain ingredients, particularly time, significantly impact total CPD costs and should be prioritized in evaluations.
• While data on instructional modality costs are informative, they are limited, indicating a need for more comprehensive reporting.
• Improvements in the methodology and reporting of cost valuations for physician CPD are recommended.