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ABIM might replace hated 10-year MOC exam

 

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)  says it might replace  its much reviled 10-year maintenance of   certification (MOC) exam with shorter, more frequent testing that physicians could take at home or in the office.

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.”

 


David L. Brown, M.D., joins Cambridge Management Group

 

David L. Brown, M.D., an anesthesiologist and a leading expert on pain management, has joined Cambridge Management Group  (cmg625.com) as a senior adviser. He survived his own prolonged life-threatening illness related to military-acquired hepatitis C, which gave him a particularly deep understanding of the needs of patients and their families facing end-of-life decisions. The experience led Dr. Brown, an Air Force veteran, to found Curadux — a firm dedicated to pioneering a revolutionary decision-support model for those facing advanced illness.

Dr. Brown’s research has focused on acute pain relief in post-surgical patients, as well as relief of pain related to pancreatic cancer. He and colleagues are investigating a novel cannabinoid-2 compound (MDA-7) that shows promise for Alzheimer’s disease symptom management and relief of neuropathic pain.

He recently retired academically and clinically from the Cleveland Clinic, where he was professor and chairman of the Anesthesiology Institute.

Previously, he led the departments of anesthesiology at the University of Texas’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, and the Virginia Mason Medical Center, as well as serving as professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Brown is past president of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine; past editor-in-chief of the journal Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine; past president of the Association of University Anesthesiologists, and past chairman of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s (ACGME) Residency Review Committee for Anesthesiology. He was also a member of the ACGME board.

He has been a director of the American Board of Anesthesiology and chairman of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research.

Dr. Brown received his medical degree in 1978 as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society, at the University of Minnesota, after undergraduate work at Iowa State University and the University of South Dakota. In 1982 he completed his anesthesiology residency at Wilford Hall U.S. Air Force Medical Center, in San Antonio. Before that, he was a flight surgeon in the USAF for the 319th Bombardment Wing.


Contact Info

info@cmg625.com

(617) 230-4965

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