Medscape reported that “the proposal to eliminate the 10-year exam is one of several recommendations issued today by ABIM’s ‘Assessment 2020 Task Force,’ convened in 2013 to improve its controversial MOC program for internal medicine (IM) physicians and IM sub-specialists. ABIM released the task force report less than a week after the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) announced that it would replace its 10-year MOC exam with continuous online testing next year.”
“Many physicians dislike the 10-year MOC exam because of its high-stakes nature. Mess up, and one’s job or hospital privileges may be on the line, because many healthcare organizations use board certification to vet their physicians.”
“Performance on the replacement to the 10-year exam envisioned by the ABIM task force would have career consequences as well.
“The results of the smaller, more frequent lower-stakes assessments would provide insight into performance and accumulate in a high-stakes pass/fail decision,” the task force said in its report. “A failure at this point may necessitate taking a longer exam or another form of assessment in order to maintain certification.”
