Paul S. Teirstein, M.D., taking aim at the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), argues in the New England Journal of Medicine that ”Maintenance of Certification” (MOC) requirements are bad for both physicians and patients because, he asserts, they waste time and money on ABIM mandates that primarily benefit the ABIM as a business.
- He writes: “Although the ABIM argues that there is evidence supporting the value of MOC, high-quality data supporting the efficacy of the program will be very hard, if not impossible, to obtain.”
- And he complains that the ABIM has become a big business from fees used, for among other things, to compensate highly paid board members and its chief executive.
- “We all support lifelong learning, but an excellent alternative to MOC already exists: continuing medical education (CME).”
- “My main recommendation would be to allow 25 annual hours of CME to be substituted for the current MOC requirements that need to be met every 2 years.””Doing so would eliminate, or make optional, the {ABIM} busywork modules that have little practical value, including all medical knowledge, practice-improvement, and patient-safety modules.”