ABIM admits it screwed up on MOC requirements

It’s not every day you get an email from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) with the subject line: “We got it wrong. We’re sorry.” Yet, that’s precisely the email heading that greeted thousands of ABIM diplomats in their in-boxes yesterday.



The email (which can be found in its entirety below) opens with an acknowledgement that the ABIM prematurely launched the new MOC requirements that shifted the once-every-10-years certification process to a more continuous one without a consideration of how it would be practically implemented.

I was present at a widely attended MOC talk last April at the American College of Physicians (ACP) convention in Orlando, Florida. The hour-long-session was standing room only by the time I walked in and I arrived 10 minutes early. It was moderated by Dr. Richard Baron, president and chief executive officer of the ABIM. Physicians were absolutely furious and voiced their frustration loudly and clearly. To his credit, Dr. Baron handled the line of at least two dozen attendees lined up to ask him questions in a calm manner and reassured folks that they were actively reviewing each component of the proposed changes.

The best source of information for discovering what changed with the February 3^rd email blast Dr. Baron sent is the FAQ page of the ABIM site. You can find it at: http://www.abim.org/maintenance-of-certification/moc-faq/default.aspx

In short, here’s what this announcement means for you:

• No worrying about the Practice Assessment, Patient Voice and Patient Safety requirements for at least two years. While this idea to place full focus on patients sounds like a good one, private-practice physicians—especially those in solo  practices—were simply ill-equipped to implement a project like this while trying to take care of their daily load of patients.
• No more “Meeting MOC requirements” next to your status on the publicly accessible ABIM site. Instead, it’ll read “Participating in MOC.” This is not just semantics. Some of the most emphatic complaints were about the wording patients would associate with their physicians if they weren’t enrolled in the MOC program.
• An update to the Internal Medicine MOC exam to better reflect what physicians in practice are doing.” Those changes begin this fall. Knowmedge will present more information as it becomes publicly available.
• Fee Freeze. To assuage fears that the MOC plan was simply a money-making scheme, the ABIM declared that the $1,940 enrollment fee (which can be paid at a $194 annual rate) will not increase through at least 2017.

• Medscape: ABIM on MOC: ‘We Got It Wrong’
• The Voice in the Ear: Who’s Sorry Now? The ABIM, That’s Who

• Effective immediately, ABIM is suspending the Practice Assessment, Patient Voice and Patient Safety requirements for at least two years. This means that no internist will have his or her certification status changed for not having completed activities in these areas for at least the next two years. Diplomates who are currently not certified but who have satisfied all requirements for Maintenance of Certification except for the Practice Assessment requirement will be issued a new certificate this year.
• Within the next six months, ABIM will change the language used to publicly report a diplomate’s MOC status on its website from “meeting MOC requirements” to “participating in MOC.”
• ABIM is updating the Internal Medicine MOC exam. The update will focus on making the exam more reflective of what physicians in practice are doing, with any changes to be incorporated beginning fall 2015, with more subspecialties to follow.
• MOC enrollment fees will remain at or below the 2014 levels through at least 2017.
• By the end of 2015, ABIM will assure new and more flexible ways for internists to demonstrate self-assessment of medical knowledge by recognizing most forms of ACCME-approved Continuing Medical Education.