Opening the Book on Maintenance of Certification
Authors: Steven E. Weinberger
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2017)

Editorials5 September 2017Opening the Book on Maintenance of CertificationSteven E. Weinberger, MDSteven E. Weinberger, MDFrom American College of Physicians; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M17-1853 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Perhaps no issue affecting internal medicine specialists and subspecialists has generated more controversy and emotion in recent years than the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) (1–4). This story started in 1986, when the ABIM's board of directors voted to discontinue its traditional practice of issuing lifetime certificates, a change that became fully effective in 1990 (5). At that point, all newly issued certificates were valid for only 10 years, and physicians holding those time-limited certificates needed to fulfill a set of requirements every 10 years to maintain their certification, including passing a ...References1. Kritek PA, Drazen JM. Clinical decisions. American Board of Internal Medicine maintenance of certification program—polling results. N Engl J Med. 2010;362:e54. [PMID: 20393173] doi:10.1056/NEJMclde1003227 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Levinson W, King TE, Goldman L, Goroll AH, Kessler B. Clinical decisions. American Board of Internal Medicine maintenance of certification program. N Engl J Med. 2010;362:948-52. [PMID: 20220192] doi:10.1056/NEJMclde0911205 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Centor RM, Fleming DA, Moyer DV. Maintenance of certification: beauty is in the eyes of the beholder [Editorial]. Ann Intern Med. 2014;161:226-7. [PMID: 24821483]. doi:10.7326/M14-1014 LinkGoogle Scholar4. Iglehart JK, Baron RB. Ensuring physicians' competence—is maintenance of certification the answer? N Engl J Med. 2012;367:2543-9. [PMID: 23268670] doi:10.1056/NEJMhpr1211043 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Baron RJ, Johnson D. The American Board of Internal Medicine: evolving professional self-regulation. Ann Intern Med. 2014;161:221-3. [PMID: 24821363]. doi:10.7326/M13-2478 LinkGoogle Scholar6. American Board of Internal Medicine. Spring 2017 update: tentative timeline for open-book and options you requested. Accessed at: http://transforming.abim.org/spring-2017-update-tentative-timeline-for-open-book-and-options-you-requested/ on 12 July 2017. Google Scholar7. Lipner RS, Brossman BG, Samonte KM, Durning SJ. Effect of access to an electronic medical resource on performance characteristics of a certification examination. A randomized controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167:302-10. doi:10.7326/M16-2843 LinkGoogle Scholar8. American College of Physicians. ACP's role & professional accountability. Accessed at www.acponline.org/cme-moc/moc/learn-more/acps-role-professional-accountability on 12 July 2017. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From American College of Physicians; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M17-1853.Corresponding Author: Steven E. Weinberger, MD, American College of Physicians, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106; e-mail, [email protected]acponline.org.This article was published at Annals.org on 15 August 2017. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoEffect of Access to an Electronic Medical Resource on Performance Characteristics of a Certification Examination Rebecca S. Lipner , Bradley G. Brossman , Kelli M. Samonte , and Steven J. Durning Opening the Book on Maintenance of Certification Steven E. Weinberger Opening the Book on Maintenance of Certification Philip L. Schiffman Metrics Cited byRandomised controlled trial of students access to resources in an examinationVision for the Future of Continuing Board CertificationOpening the Book on Maintenance of CertificationPhilip L. Schiffman, MD 5 September 2017Volume 167, Issue 5Page: 353-354KeywordsAnxietyDisclosureFearGamesHealth care qualityInformation retrievalNephrologyPatientsReproducibilitySub-specialty care ePublished: 15 August 2017 Issue Published: 5 September 2017 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2017 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...