Category 1 CEUs can be granted for educational programs with content targeted to genetic counselors and pre-approved by NSGC.

Activity organizers apply for pre-approval of their conference or educational activity. Once the activity is approved by NSGC genetic counselors attend the activity, and then activity organizers submit a list of individuals who attended and should be awarded certificates following the activity.

Applying for Category 1 CEUs

All applications for Category 1 CEUs will be submitted through the NSGC CEU Portal.

• Activity Title
• Sponsoring Organization
• Activity Start and End Dates
  • For series applications, meaning an activity that will take place in multiple sessions over an extended period of time, the end date must be within one year of the start date.
  • For enduring activities where content will be available for an extended period of time (ex. online courses, conference recordings) the end date should be no more than 2 years from the start date.
• Event format (ex. in-person, live webinar, recorded webinar, self-paced online course, etc.)
• Self-paced activities require the completion of a quiz by attendees to confirm participation.
• General description of activity
• Three (3) Overall Activity Objectives - these are overarching activity objectives and must be different from the session learning objectives. Example:
  • Analyze family history to estimate genetic risk.
  • Calculate risk using probability methods and risk models.
  • Integrate clinical and laboratory data into risk assessment.
  • Order genetic tests guided by client-centered risk assessment.
• Three (3) Learning Objectives
  • Three overall learning objectives for the activity.
  • One additional learning objective per 30 minutes of content.
  • Use ONE measurable, behavioral verb per objective.
  • Understand, learn and know are not measurable verbs.
  • Verbs must be externally observable actions.
  • Objectives should be learner focused.
• The name and contact information of the genetic counselor who is serving on the activity planning committee to verify the educational content (against ACGC domains) of the course material as being relevant to the practice of genetic counseling

Activity Materials

• Education Activity Overview Form (EAO)
• Agenda/Brochure/Outline of course, including session times, session titles, and speakers.

Quiz Questions

• Any course that does not involve live instruction by lecture or activity, must also provide attendees with a quiz to prove participation.
• 5-7 questions per hour of content are required.
• All questions should be multiple choice. True-false questions are not allowed.
• Cat 1 Quiz Questions Sample
• Evaluation
  • ABGC requires all CEU activities to collect attendee evaluations for both the individual sessions and the overall activity.
  • Every speaker must be evaluated, each learning objective, as well as whether or not their presentation was presented without bias and adhered to COI requirements.
• COI (Conflict of Interest) Disclosure Forms for every speaker/presenter

Applications should be submitted to the CEU portal 8 to 12 weeks prior to the start date of the activity. We recommend applying at least 8 weeks prior to the print deadline for the final program materials.

For example, an application for an activity that takes place on July 28 should be submitted no later than June 1. Starting June 2, 8 weeks prior to the event, a rush fee would be automatically added to the invoiced amount.

Note: NSGC does not retroactively approve any activity for Category 1 CEUs.

The application review and approval process typically takes between 3 to 6 weeks and will vary depending on how many other activities are in review at that time and the size of a given activity. Please consider this when preparing and submitting an application.

There are two fees associated with Category 1 CEU activities: Application Fees and Filing Fees.

Application Fees

Application fees are calculated automatically based on the date of submission and how many contact hours are requested. Application fees must be submitted prior to receiving final approval for the activity.

Application fees may be paid when you submit the application or after the review process is complete.

Filing Fees

Filing Fees are fees for all participants who wish to claim CEUs. These fees are submitted after the completion of the approved activity and when submitting the final attendee list for the event.

Filing fees are set at $35 per CEU earner. For example, 1 attendee would require a $35 filing fee, 1,000 attendees would require a filing fee of $3,500.

As the activity organizer, you can choose to pay these fees on behalf of all attendees or can build them into the registration cost of the event you are hosting.

As the activity organizer, you are responsible for collecting the filing fee payments and submitting them to NSGC as part of the post-activity documentation following the end of an approved activity. CEU certificates will not be issued if filing fees are not received from the activity organizer.

Application Monitoring and Revision Requests

If NSGC has any questions or needs additional information for an application, we will contact the organizer via an 'Applicant Inquiry' from the CEU portal.

Within the CEU Portal, each application will have an orange or grey status button.

• Orange buttons indicate an action is required of the organizer. Actions required may include payment of fees, revision requests, attendance upload, etc.
• Gray buttons indicate that the application or activity is in a stage where changes or adjustments cannot be made.

Responding to an Inquiry/Request for Changes

• First, follow the procedures under the 'Application Monitoring and Inquiry Revision Request' above.
• At the course list, click the 'Respond to Inquiry' button on the appropriate application.
• The requested revisions are noted at the top of the screen under 'Comments to Applicant'
• To upload any revised documents, click the trashcan icon next to the current upload and then replace it with the revised document.
• If more than one document must be uploaded to a particular field, combine multiple files into a merged PDF or compressed file for upload.
• The system does not store previous versions of documents. Please ensure any uploads are either a revised or combined version with all relevant information for the application.
• Enter a quick description of the changes that have been made in the 'Description of changes to Review Team' box.
• Click 'Resubmit'; this will send the application back to the reviewers for final review. If further revisions are required, another inquiry will be sent. For this reason, please include all requested changes in the first set of revisions.

Submitting Post Activity Materials

After the activity has taken place, the organizer will need to login into the NSGC CEU Portal, select the activity, and click the orange 'Report Attendance' button to report the number of attendees who are claiming CEUs and upload all necessary post-activity documents, including:

• CEU Earner Spreadsheet (aka Attendance Spreadsheet) - This should be an electronic spreadsheet (Excel or CSV) - word documents, PDFs, and other scanned documents are invalid and will not be accepted.
• Do not include any attendees who are not earning CEUs or any additional information not outlined above. This document should be vetted to include only attendees who have completed all requirements to claim CEUs (verified attendance, completed evaluations, paid fees, passed quizzes) and should match the number of CEU earners reported in the portal.
• Evaluation Results - results from the evaluation form which was approved with the application. This can be a PDF, scanned documents, or Excel file.
• For series applications, we require evaluation results from all completed sessions, in addition to the overall activity evaluation.
• Summarized or anonymous evaluation results are permissible as long as they include any comments.

Additional Uploads Required for Series and Self-Paced Activities

The following documents are required for Series-Style Activities in addition to those required for other activities. Combine multiple pages or documents into a merged PDF or compressed (zipped) file for upload.

• Education Activity Overview Forms (EAO)
  • Complete an accurate and CEU compliant EAO form covering each session, detailing session dates, topics, speakers and objectives.
  • Submit all session EAO forms which were not included in the initial application materials.
• COI (Conflict of Interest) Disclosure Forms
  • Every speaker/presenter in the series should have completed a COI disclosure form prior to their presentation.
  • Submit ALL collected session speaker COIs.
  • If the activity has received accreditation from another institution for CMEs or other accredited institutions, a letter of certification may be submitted in accordance with the ABGC recognition of alternative COI procedures.
• Quiz Questions
  • Submit quiz questions as written for any session which was not included in the activity application. Submit quiz results for all sessions.
  • Remember there is an 80% pass rate and three-time retake limit required for all quizzes. Anyone falling short of those requirements has not met CEU standards and should not earn CEUs for that session.

Finalizing Submission and Payment

Once all necessary documents have been uploaded, click the orange 'Continue' button to continue on to the payment step. Please note, it is not possible to go back to the upload page once the continue button is clicked. So, please ensure that all of the correct documents have been uploaded, and that the correct number of attendees claiming CEUs have been entered.

• The system will automatically calculate the filing fees owed based on the number of CEU attendees entered on the previous page.
• NSGC will not collect CEU filing fees directly from attendees. It is the responsibility of the activity organizer to collect filing fees from participants and submit them to NSGC.
• Once payment has been completed, NSGC will issue certificates to the participants via the CEU portal within two weeks of payment processing.
• Please inform participants about this timeline for viewing certificates in the CEU portal.