Big changes came to the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program requirements in 2014. As of January 1, all diplomates, including “grandfathers” (or those certified before 1990 who are “board-certified for life”), must actively participate in MOC activities in order to be listed as “Meeting MOC Requirements” on the ABIM website.
According to ABIM, the new requirements were designed to increase the relevancy of the credential in an environment where there is growing recognition that the field of medicine is rapidly evolving and assessment of medical knowledge every 10 years is not sufficient.
“For grandfathers, their ABIM certification persists, but on the ABIM webpage it will say that they are not participating in MOC requirements,” said Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, Senior Director of Education, Science, and Professional Development at ASCO. “In the future, this Meeting MOC Requirements status will likely be tied to academic status, appointments at hospitals, and insurance payments.”
Some of the specific milestones among the new requirements are participation in some MOC activity every 2 years, earning 100 MOC points every 5 years, including 20 in practice assessment and 20 in medical knowledge, and passing a secure MOC exam every 10 years.
New MOC Resources
ASCO is rolling out a series of new MOC-approved, oncology-focused products to assist its members as they begin to tackle these new requirements.
Members can visit ASCO University to earn medical knowledge points by completing any of a series of ASCO-developed medical knowledge courses worth 10 MOC points each, including courses on Palliative Care, Geriatric Oncology, Ethics, and Comprehensive Oncology. Nine additional courses on a variety of cancer topics are scheduled for release later in 2014.
To earn practice assessment points, members who are currently participating in ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) program can refer to the practice’s QOPI data report and select three measures to report to the ABIM using the ABIM’s Self-Directed Performance Improvement Module. The ABIM site will prompt the oncologist to select one measure for improvement, and request specific information regarding planned improvement efforts.
New Sessions at the Annual Meeting
Members can also earn MOC points by participating in two sessions at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting (registration required). The Maintenance of Certification and Lifelong Learning Workshop is a 3.5-hour interactive session that will use audience-response technology to review an ABIM medical oncology SEP module. After the session, ABIM diplomates can submit their answers for MOC credit. Members can also participate in the Core Session MOC Self-Assessment Activity. Members will complete a premeeting test, and based on their responses to the questions, ASCO will recommend sessions to attend to fill in any knowledge gaps. Members then complete a post-test to document that the knowledge gaps have been filled in order to claim MOC credit.
According to Dr. Von Roenn, ASCO plans to make MOC points available in the future for attending its other specialty specific meetings such as the Breast Cancer Symposium, Quality Care Symposium, Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, and the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
“ASCO is going to be developing more and more innovative ways to help members meet MOC credit requirements through activities that they already participate in,” said Dr. Von Roenn. “We want these to be time efficient so that members can earn credits, for example, answering daily education questions while standing at the elevator or on hold for a phone call. We want to streamline this process so that people can stay up to date.”
For full information on the ABIM MOC changes, visit moc2014.abim.org. ■
© 2014. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
