Leaders of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and its member boards say they’ve been searching for the right path since deciding to take the MOC process beyond the once-per-decade requirement and add elements like subspecialty tests and patient ratings to the process.
Maintenance of certification: inside the physician revolt
“We heard physicians didn’t like the stress and cost of examinations. They weren’t finding that the board approved-materials were as relevant as they needed to be. They didn’t find the system as user-friendly as they needed it to be,” says Lois Nora, MD, JD, president and chief executive officer of ABMS. “Many of our boards now have better systems in place for recognizing learning activities and giving credit.”
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the center of the firestorm during the past couple of years, plans to spend 2016 considering recommendations to make its MOC process less burdensome, says Richard Baron, MD, president and chief executive officer of ABIM. “For example, we know that many people are unhappy with taking the exams in a testing center,” he says. “Testing centers assure that the person you think is taking the test, is actually the person taking the test. It’s an important thing for credibility. So we’re looking at different kinds of remote proctoring options. Are there ways people can establish their identity?”
MOC, recertifications are ‘cancers’ doctors should rally against
The ABIM updated its MOC exam last fall by asking practicing doctors to review the blueprint and make sure questions reflected what they were seeing in their practices. “We’re certainly hearing that some people say it covered obscure things, but we’re hearing many more people say it had a good reflection of what they see in their practice,” Baron says. “There was a sense that people may have felt more comfortable with what was on it.”
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