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Maintenance of Certification

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Okla. first state to remove MOC requirement

 

Oklahoma has become the first state to enact a law  to remove maintenance of certification (MOC) as a requirement for physicians to obtain a license, get hired and paid, or get hospital- admitting privileges.

Medscape reported that Kentucky’s governor has signed a more limited measure that prohibits making MOC a condition of licensure.

Similar laws are proposed in other states as the  rebellion against hated MOC programs operating under the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)  becomes more intense. Physicians have long complained about the cost in time and money of these programs.

Internists and internal medical subspecialists have been the fiercest critics, protesting that the MOC program of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in particular wastes their time and money and does little to nothing to improve their patient-care abilities.

 


Some ABIM MOC rules put off

 

The American Board of Internal Medicine’s board unanimously voted to extend a February 2015 decision to suspend the Practice Assessment, Patient Voice and Patient Safety requirements for Maintenance of Certification an extra year, through the end of 2018, reports Becker’s Hospital Review.

“This means no internist will have their {ABIM} certification status changed for incomplete Practice Assessment, Patient Voice or Patient Safety activities through Dec. 31, 2018. To maintain certification status, internists are still required to take and pass an exam every 10 years, earn 100 MOC points every five years and complete an MOC activity every two years,” Becker’s reported.

Many physicians hate the ABIM’s MOC rules; they see them as  too intrusive and time-consuming.


Rheumatologists join chorus against ABIM

rheum

 

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has challenged the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Maintenance of Certification (ABIM MOC) requirements, and says that rheumatologists have lost confidence in the program.

ACR president E. William St. Clair, M.D., stated that “[o]ur members strongly feel the ABIM MOC program not only fails to appropriately assess their competence but lacks evidence that patients are benefiting from their involvement with it.” Thus the rheumatologists have joined the swelling chorus denouncing the ABIM.

MedPage Today reported that the ACR said:
  • “The program should be modified to permit rheumatologists to develop an ongoing professional development program suitable to his/her own professional needs.
  • “The Practice Assessment, Patient Voice, and Safety Assessment components of the recertification process should not be reinstated because they are redundant.
  • “The ‘secure, closed-book, high-stakes MOC examination’ should be replaced by ‘CME {continuing medical education} activities that include assessment and demonstrate educational benefit, or a take home open-book exam should be considered as appropriate assessment tools for MOC.’
  • “An independent, external review of the MOC program should be undertaken and the findings made public.”

And, a “transparent accounting of the cost to the physician of the MOC program is essential and a reduction in cost commensurate with the reduction in the program should be instituted.”

Some have called the ABIM a giant money-making machine because of the compensation paid to its executives.

 

 


MOC about to be even more hated

 

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The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)’s changes to its  widely detested maintenance of certification (MOC) program in 2014 will increase time commitments by about 20 percent and expenses (including the cost of their time) more than 15 percent for physicians who need to complete it, says a study  led by Dhruv S. Kazi, M.D., MSc, of the University of California  at San Francisco.

As MedPage Today noted: “In recent years the cost of the MOC program has been a point of contention among physicians, many of whom have called for evidence that the program helps physicians provide better quality care, and for financial transparency from the ABIM.

The publication said that “In February 2015, the ABIM responded to physician complaints with five modifications to the 2014 update, promising more flexibility, locking in the 2014 fees till 2017, and suspending the patient voice, patient safety, and practice assessment portions of the program for 2 years. The current study did not take these changes into account, but they do not appear likely to affect the results markedly.”

 

 

 


ABIM’s vast credibility gap

Grand_Canyon_view_from_Pima_Point_2010

 

Rachel Stark, M.D., says the American Board of Internal Medicine and its widely hated Maintenance of Certification program have a long, steep road to climb to regain credibility among physicians who have wasted so much time on its dubious exams while seeing luxurious living by hugely paid ABIM executives.


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