Continuing medical education and the Professional Standards Review Organizations.

The history of continuing medical education (CME) activities in the United States originates in the early years of this century. CME programs have increased markedly in recent decades, but these activities have come to be viewed from many perspectives as inadequate. Recently, the Professional Standards Review Organization (PSRO's) have been proposed as a "solution" to the problems of CME. PSRO's may provide useful data to CME programs and could serve as mechanisms for evaluating these activities. Features of medical care problems which identify them as suitable subjects for CME activities using PSRO data are presented and discussed.