Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, ASCO President, made the following remarks following ABIM’s recent announcement concerning maintenance of certification:

“Last year, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) released a new process for maintenance of certification (MOC) that many physicians felt was onerous and lacked relevance to how physicians in practice learn today. In response, ASCO and our sister professional societies began a dialogue with ABIM to let them know our concerns, concerns that ABIM publicly acknowledged [earlier this month]. Effective immediately, ABIM is suspending the Practice Assessment, Patient Voice, and Patient Safety requirements for at least 2 years.

“This news comes as a welcome announcement to us and to all our members who were facing these proposed changes. ASCO and its leaders have been working on this issue and expressing concern consistently for months. We spoke out, you spoke out, and ABIM listened. As your professional society, we are here to help drive changes that help our members and improve patient care.

In the coming months, we will continue to work with the ABIM leadership as it institutes these and other changes—and we will be sure to keep you, our members, informed.

“ASCO intends to work collaboratively with ABIM to develop a better system that reassures the public that their physician meets the highest professional standards as determined by their peers and that creates a designation of Board Certification that we are all proud to maintain.” ■