The Maintenance of Certification will remain as-is--requiring physicians to pass an examination every 10 years, earn 100 MOC points every five years and complete some MOC-related activity every two years--until the end of 2018, Medical Economics reported.
"We have heard from many stakeholders that it is good for patients when physicians regularly evaluate and improve the quality of their care, but we have learned there are a myriad of ways physicians do this today, and that our MOC program should credit clinically meaningful activities," Richard Baron, M.D., president and chief executive officer of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), said in an announcement.
"ABIM will continue to provide MOC credit for quality improvement activities physicians choose to do and expand the list of activities we recognize for MOC credit while we partner with others to increase clinically relevant opportunities for doctors to engage in this important work," he added.
Off the table for now, therefore, are the controversial practice assessment, patient voice and patient safety parts of the certification process.
These elements have been described as "onerous and not very helpful to physicians or patients" by Paul Teirstein, M.D., founder and president of the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons, an alternative certifying organization created in the wake of ABIM's doing away with lifelong certifications in 2000. He told Medical Economics that ABIM's postponing additional requirements was a good decision, but it would be better if it got rid of them entirely.
ABIM is not the only certifying body looking to update its process. The American Board of Anesthesiology has this year done away with its 10-year exams and put more frequent online quizzes in its place, FiercePracticeManagement reported previously.
To learn more:
- read the article
- here's the announcement