Passion may not pay the bills, but it does fund ingenuity. It’s a cheeky line that hits home for many of us in CME/CPD. We’ve kept programs afloat on creativity, collaboration and caffeine, all in the name of meaningful learning.

If you have ever been told to “do more with less,” you are not alone. Working lean has become a quiet constant in our field, and over time, it can start to feel like part of our professional identity, almost a badge of honor. But there is a fine line between being resourceful and being resigned.

Affordability does not have to mean scarcity. It can mean strategy. It can mean designing smarter, not smaller. Instead of asking how we can cut costs, what if we asked how we can create clarity? How can we make each decision intentional, purposeful and aligned with learning outcomes that matter?

This article explores how to do exactly that by blending practical ideas from partnerships, personal finance, economics and design thinking into real-world strategies that help CME/CPD professionals design between the lines of constraint and opportunity.

Mindset First: Designing for Constraints Without Being Defined by Them

Before discussing budgets or production strategies, it helps to start with the mindset.

Affordability can easily be conflated with how we see the value of ourselves and our programs. When resources are limited, it is easy to slip into the belief that small budgets mean small worth. That quiet internal narrative shapes how we plan, create and advocate for what we do.

Working within constraints is a familiar part of the CME/CPD landscape, but it does not have to define us. The goal is not to glorify scarcity or celebrate “doing more with less.” It is to find balance and acknowledge real limits while refusing to let them shape our identity or the quality of what we produce.

Reframing affordability begins with asking different questions. Instead of asking, “What can we cut?,” we can ask, “What truly drives value?” Instead of assuming our budgets set the boundaries, we can treat them as design prompts. Constraints are real, but they can also be creative catalysts when we stop viewing them as verdicts on our worth.

The shift from scarcity to strategy begins when we separate what is temporary from what is true. Your current resources may be limited, but your capacity for innovation and excellence is not. Once that distinction is clear, design becomes not just possible, but purposeful.

Designing Across Disciplines

CME/CPD doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Other fields have been mastering creative problem-solving within tight limits for decades. When we borrow what works and adapt it to our own context, we turn affordability into innovation and design into strategy.

The Personal Finance Lens — Every Dollar Has a Job

In personal finance, success comes from being intentional with money. The same is true for educational design.

• Zero-based budgeting: assign every dollar to a purpose linked to a learning objective or outcome. Nothing should float without intent.
• Pay yourself first: prioritize the elements that directly affect learning (e.g., instructional design, content accuracy and outcomes measurement) before investing in polish or production.
• Envelope method: divide your budget into fixed categories like faculty, technology or assessment. When one envelope is empty, it’s a cue to innovate, not overspend. Some CE teams are using AI to handle the repetitive work that quietly consumes staff time. Examples include:
  • Cleaning up faculty bios
  • Tightening learning objectives
  • Drafting first-pass agendas
  • Formatting slide decks
  • Summarizing needs assessment findings to create more visible patterns/gaps

None of these tasks require deep instructional expertise, but together they absorb hours that could be spent strengthening design, refining objectives or improving outcomes measurement. The goal is not to replace expertise, but to reclaim time and budget so the most meaningful parts of the work stay protected. When every hour and every dollar is used with intention, innovation becomes much easier to spot.

Reflection Point: Print your most recent budget and ask yourself, “Does every dollar show up where learners actually change?”

The Economics Lens – Think in Terms of Opportunity Costs

Economists teach that every choice has a trade-off. The same applies to CME/CPD planning. Some expenses feed learning, while others just feed habit. If the lunch budget buys goodwill and energy, keep it. If it buys leftovers and eyerolls, redirect part of it to a faculty debrief or a learner follow-up that leaves participants with impactful “food for thought” instead of just food. Evaluate which costs create engagement and not just optics. Adding more speakers, slides or minutes does not always equal more value. At some point, you hit diminishing returns, where the effort outweighs the impact. The goal is to find your efficiency frontier, that sweet spot where investment and outcomes align.

Reflection Point: Audit one ongoing activity and move a low-impact expense toward something that deepens learning.

The Design Thinking Lens — Create, Test, Iterate

Design thinking reframes limits as fuel for creativity. Start by empathizing with learners. It is easy to assume that the most polished or expensive program automatically delivers the best outcomes, but high production value does not guarantee high educational value. Urban clinicians may be able to attend a $4,000 conference, but the family physician serving a rural community deserves access to the same quality of content and insight. Consider pivoting away from grand in-person events and toward e-learning modules that support accessibility for all. There is a plethora of digital resources that may be prototyped, customized, and refined quickly rather than overbuilding from the start.

• Start with empathy: understand what learners need before designing what you think they need.
• Prototype cheaply: test a micro-module or discussion format before committing to a complete program.
• Iterate often: collect quick feedback and evolve continuously instead of waiting for perfection.

Reflection Point: Try a one-week design sprint on one specific learning challenge using your existing resources.

The Collaboration Lens — Shared Investment, Shared Impact

Partnerships stretch more than budgets. They stretch perspective. Collaborating with other departments, hospitals, foundations or associations can create shared ownership and multiply both reach and value. Here are a few approaches CE teams use:

• Partner with a state association or public health authority to cohost an activity, which allows the program to reach clinicians they could not access on their own
• Collaborate with hospitals or internal departments by solving for external speakers, especially when the budget is limited

Codeveloping interprofessional education also pools outcomes data by strengthening the case for future funding. When each partner invests a little, everyone gains a lot.

Reflection Point: Identify one internal or external partner who serves a similar learner audience and invite them to cofund or cohost your next activity.

Maintaining and Elevating Instructional Design Standards

At the end of the day, affordability is only worth pursuing if the quality of learning remains strong. Resourcefulness should never come at the expense of rigor. Recentering “the why” keeps us honest and the education meaningful.

Cost efficiency does not mean cutting corners. It means designing with purpose and intention while focusing on the learning experience rather than the bells and whistles. A well-told story will always outshine a glossy presentation that leaves learners passive.

References

Connors, E. T., Franklin, H., & Kaskey, C. (1978). Zero-Base: A new look at budgeting for education. Journal of Education Finance, 4(2), 248–259. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40703189

Diskin, C., Robinson, K., & Agrawal, R. (2023). Family partnership in continuing medical education: A collaborative experience. Pediatrics, 151(5), e2022060280. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/151/5/e2022060280/191020/Family-Partnership-in-Continuing-Medical-Education

Drexel, C., Arnone, M., Theriault, N., & Paynter, N. (2025). Designing for what matters: How long-term patient advocacy partnerships power patient-centered continuing education. Almanac ACEhp. https://almanac.acehp.org/Education/Education-Article/designing-for-what-matters-how-long-term-patient-advocacy-partnerships-power-patient-centered-continuing-education

Kaplovitch, E., Otremba, M., Morgan, M., & Devine, L. A. (2019). Cost-efficient medical education: An innovative approach to creating educational products. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 11(6), 713–716. https://jgme.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/jgme/11/6/article-p713.xml

McLaughlin, J. E., Wolcott, M. D., Hubbard, D., Umstead, K., & Rider, T. R. (2019). A qualitative review of the design thinking framework in health professions education. BMC Medical Education, 19, 98. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-019-1528-8

Mankiw, N. G. (2021). Principles of economics (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Phelps, C. E. (2018). Health economics (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Pyhrr, P. A. (1977). Zero-base budgeting: A practical management tool for evaluating expenses. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Sandars, J., & Goh, P. S. (2020). Design thinking in medical education: The key features and practical application. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 7, 1–5. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2382120520926518

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Disclosure: The author used OpenAI tools to assist with brainstorming, organizing content and refining language. All substantive ideas, analysis and conclusions reflect the author’s own work.

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Milini Mingo, MPA, PMP, CHCP, is a scientific strategist who designs purposeful, accessible, and outcomes-driven learning experiences for clinicians and communities.

 

 

 

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