Your Questions, Answered

Answers to the questions pharmaceutical medical affairs leaders, nonprofit education directors, and medical communications teams ask most often before engaging Atabey Medical Communications.

About Atabey Medical Communications

  • Atabey Medical Communications is an independent medical communications consultancy that delivers medical education strategy, CME accreditation consulting, and medical writing for pharmaceutical, healthcare, and nonprofit clients. We translate complex clinical evidence into accredited educational programs and audience-ready content across the full program lifecycle, from needs assessment through outcomes evaluation.


    Our active therapeutic areas include cardiovascular disease (including cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome), pulmonology, rheumatology (including lupus), women's health (including menopause, sexual and reproductive health, maternal care), and mental health. We also rapidly onboard new therapeutic areas using a structured literature review and KOL engagement process, which is common in consulting where client priorities shift.

  • We work with three types of clients.

    1. Pharmaceutical and biotech medical affairs and medical education teams engage us for CME-aligned content development, MSL training, and HCP-facing educational programs.

    2. Healthcare nonprofits and professional associations engage us for accredited curriculum design, guideline-aligned education, and patient-facing materials.

    3. Medical education companies (MECs) engage us as a fractional or project-based partner when their internal teams are at capacity

  • Our active therapeutic areas include cardiovascular disease (including cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome), pulmonology, rheumatology (including lupus), women's health (including menopause, sexual and reproductive health, maternal care), and mental health. We also rapidly onboard new therapeutic areas using a structured literature review and KOL engagement process, which is common in consulting where client priorities shift.

CME accreditation and compliance

  • ACCME accreditation is the formal recognition that a continuing medical education provider meets the standards set by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. Accredited CME activities can award AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, which clinicians need to maintain licensure and specialty certification in most US states.

    For pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations, ACCME accreditation also signals that the education is designed to be independent of commercial influence, which is essential for clinician trust and for compliance with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence.

  • Organizations eligible to be accredited in the ACCME System (eligible organizations) are those whose mission and function are: (1) providing clinical services directly to patients; or (2) the education of healthcare professionals; or (3) serving as fiduciary to patients, the public, or population health; and other organizations that are not otherwise ineligible.

    Companies that are ineligible to be accredited in the ACCME System (ineligible companies) are those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

  • Organizations that want to offer accredited CME have two paths. The first is becoming an ACCME-accredited provider—a rigorous process that requires demonstrating the infrastructure, policies, and expertise to independently plan, deliver, and evaluate CME that meets ACCME standards. Once accredited, the organization has full control over its educational programming. The second option is joint providership, where an organization partners with an already-accredited provider to offer CME. In this model, the accredited provider assumes responsibility for ensuring compliance with ACCME standards, while the partner organization contributes content, funding, or logistical support. Joint providership is often the right choice for organizations that want to offer accredited education without building the internal infrastructure required for direct accreditation.

  • Yes, there are other disciplines that accept AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ as equivalent CE or CEU for re-licensure or recertification, including, but not limited to, Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Pharm.D’s, and Psychologists. It is advisable for you to contact the specific governing body, as state boards vary in their requirements.

  • Yes, we can also assist in guiding your organization through the CE process for nurses, psychologists, social workers, dieticians, chiropractors, naturopathic doctors, fitness and sports scientists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and pharmacists.

  • The ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education are the rules that govern how accredited CME must be planned, developed, and delivered to ensure it is free from commercial influence. They cover conflict of interest management, the role of ineligible companies, content validity, and the separation between accredited education and promotional activity.

    We hold the ACCME certificate in implementing these standards and apply them at every stage of program design, from faculty selection through final content review.

  • We apply the ACCME Standards across the full program lifecycle. At the planning stage, we structure needs assessments based on independent evidence and validated practice gaps rather than commercial inputs. At the content stage, we require faculty to disclose all relationships with ineligible companies and we mitigate any relevant financial relationships before content is finalized. At the review stage, we apply structured peer review to ensure recommendations are evidence-based and balanced.

    For grant-funded programs, we maintain strict separation between the funder and the educational content, in line with the ACCME Standards.

  • We design outcomes measurement using Moore's Expanded Outcomes Framework, which is the most widely used model for evaluating CME impact. The framework defines seven levels, from participation through community health, and lets us match the measurement approach to the program's intended impact.

    Most programs measure at Levels 1 through 3 (participation, satisfaction, knowledge change). Programs designed to change practice should also measure at Level 4 (competence) and Level 5 (performance in practice), and the strongest programs reach Level 6 (patient health), where the data infrastructure supports it.

Medical writing and content development

  • Medical writing typically refers to the production of specific document types, including clinical study reports, manuscripts, abstracts, slide decks, and patient education materials. Medical communications is the broader strategic discipline that includes medical writing alongside scientific narrative development, publication planning, educational strategy, and stakeholder engagement.

    We do both. Most clients engage us for medical communications strategy that includes the writing as part of the deliverable.

  • Both. HCP-facing work includes CME curricula, slide decks, MSL training materials, and clinical practice tools. Patient-facing work includes plain-language educational materials, self-advocacy guides, eLearning courses, and digital companion content.

    Plain-language work for patient audiences requires a different skill set than HCP writing. We routinely write at a fifth- to sixth-grade reading level for community-facing education while maintaining clinical accuracy, and we apply trauma-informed and culturally adapted design principles where relevant.

  • Plain language is not simplification, it is a translation discipline. We start by identifying what the audience actually needs to do with the information (decide, ask, act, advocate), then we build the content around those decision points using validated readability tools, structured layout, and audience-tested language. Where relevant, we apply cultural adaptation and trauma-informed design to ensure the content lands with the audiences we are trying to reach.

    Dr. Marissa holds a Trauma-Informed Design certificate and a Learning Experience Design certificate from the University of Michigan, both of which inform this approach.

Working Together

  • A standard CME activity (eLearning module, enduring material, or live activity) typically runs 12 to 16 weeks from kickoff through launch. Curriculum-level programs, including multi-module series or accredited certificate programs, typically run four to nine months depending on scope, faculty availability, and accreditation pathway.

    We can move faster when the evidence base is established and the client team is empowered to make timely decisions. We can also embed for longer engagements where ongoing curriculum support is needed.

  • We offer three engagement models. Project-based engagements are scoped to a single deliverable or program, with defined milestones and a fixed scope of work. Retainer engagements provide ongoing fractional support for clients who need consistent medical education or accreditation expertise without hiring full-time. Embedded engagements place us as an extension of your team for a defined period, typically during a launch, an accreditation cycle, or a major curriculum build.

    We are happy to discuss which model fits during an initial consultation.

  • We work directly with medical, regulatory, and commercial stakeholders at each client to align on content accuracy, business objectives, and compliance requirements. We bring structured kickoff and review processes that surface stakeholder requirements early, which reduces late-stage rework. For pharmaceutical clients, we also coordinate with medical-legal-regulatory (MLR) review cycles and design content to anticipate common review feedback.

    For accredited CME, we maintain firewalls between commercial stakeholders and educational content in line with the ACCME Standards, while keeping commercial teams appropriately informed of program progress.

  • Three things. First, we lead with clinical credibility: our founder is a doctorally prepared family nurse practitioner with over a decade of practice experience across primary care, urgent care, and virtual menopause care. That clinical lens shapes how we design education for the clinicians who will use it. Second, we are ACCME-trained and apply accreditation standards as a design discipline, not a compliance afterthought. Third, we combine instructional design rigor (Moore's, Bloom's, Kirkpatrick, ACCME Standards) with the audience read that comes from active clinical practice.

    If you want to discuss whether we are the right fit for a program you are scoping, you can schedule a consultation here.