The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) have announced a partnership that aims to unify continuing education activities with Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements and expand doctors’ options for MOC credit.
As part of the change, ABIM will no longer require CME providers to submit applications to ABIM for activity approval and peer review. Instead, accredited CME providers can use a shared system to record information about CME and ABIM MOC activities. The network will provide additional choices for internists without adding new ACCME requirements, according to an Aug. 12 ABIM announcement.
The American College of Physicians (ACP) praised the move, saying it will provide internists more choices.
“The American College of Physicians has long advocated for a process that gives MOC credit for activities that physicians are already doing,” Dr. Wayne J. Riley, ACP president, said in an interview. “We support an easier process and more options for diplomates to get credit for the Part 2 (Self-Assessment of Knowledge) component of MOC.”
While ABIM already offers more than 300 medical knowledge options to physicians engaged in MOC, diplomates wanted a more streamlined process that enabled them to more seamlessly combine their ongoing educational activities with MOC requirements, ABIM President Richard J. Baron said in a statement.
“By collaborating with ACCME, ABIM will open the door to even more options for physicians engaged in MOC and will allow them to get MOC credit for high-quality CME activities they are already doing,” Dr. Baron said in the statement.
ABIM noted that accredited CME providers in the ACCME system already use the ACCME Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) to enter data about CME activities. With the new partnership, CME providers can also use PARS to register activities for ABIM MOC. CME administrators can submit learner data and attest to compliance with ABIM-specific requirements for the Medical Knowledge Assessment Recognition Program. ABIM and ACCME will start beta testing the technology later this month, and the associations expect to open the process for accredited CME providers by the end of 2015.
Additionally, ACCME will maintain on its website a list of activities that meet ABIM requirements and that are registered for MOC credit. Data verifying that doctors have completed CME activities will be communicated to ABIM through PARS.
“This collaboration will generate many more opportunities for accredited CME providers to serve as a strategic resource by delivering relevant, effective, independent, practice-based education that counts for MOC,” ACCME President Graham T. McMahon said in the statement. “I look forward to working together with ABIM, our community of accredited CME providers, and our community of diplomates to leverage the power of education to drive quality in our medical profession and improve care for the patients we serve.”
The partnership is the latest in an ongoing series of modifications to ABIM’s MOC process. Earlier this month, ABIM announced that physicians who do not enroll in its MOC program will no longer automatically lose their board certification status. In July, the board announced that no disciplines within its MOC program will require underlying certification and that all diplomates can choose the certifications they wish to maintain. The policy goes into effect Jan. 1, 2016.
In early June, ABIM rolled out changes to its exam outline and score report. Starting with spring 2015 exams, physicians will receive enhanced score reports with more performance details, according to ABIM. The board also updated its internal medicine MOC blueprint – the exam content outline – to ensure that the exam reflects how internists are practicing today and to provide more detailed explanations of topics that may be included in the exam.
The growing list of changes follows a February announcement by ABIM apologizing to physicians for an MOC program that “clearly got it wrong.” ABIM pledged to make the program more consistent with physicians’ practice and values. Among the immediate changes are updates to its internal medicine exam; suspension of the practice assessment, patient voice, and patient safety requirements for at least 2 years; and setting MOC enrollment fees at or below 2014 levels through at least 2017.
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