Colorado Medical Society

http://dev.cms.org/articles/abim-and-accme-announce-collaboration-in-support-of-physician-lifelong-lear/

ABIM and ACCME Announce Collaboration in Support of Physician Lifelong Learning

Wednesday, August 12, 2015 01:25 PM

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) announced on Aug. 12 a collaboration to support physicians who are engaged in lifelong learning by enabling them to use those activities in completion of requirements for ABIM’s Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. This collaboration will expand the options available to physicians to receive MOC credit and will enable continuing medical education (CME) providers to offer more lifelong learning options with MOC credit to internists and subspecialists.

ABIM and ACCME pursued this collaboration in response to the needs and requests of physicians and CME providers who are focused on supporting physicians’ desire to engage in lifelong learning and improvement.

ABIM diplomates already use participation in accredited CME to meet licensure and other professional obligations. ABIM and ACCME want to facilitate ABIM diplomates’ ability to use high-quality CME for MOC to demonstrate that they are staying current with medical knowledge and practice as well.

ABIM will no longer require CME providers to submit applications for activity approval and peer review to ABIM. Instead, accredited CME providers will be able to use one unified shared system to record information about CME and ABIM MOC activities. All accredited CME providers in the ACCME system already use the ACCME Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) to enter data about each of their CME activities. With this collaboration, CME providers will also be able to use PARS to register activities for ABIM MOC. As part of this registration process, providers can attest to compliance with ABIM-specific requirements for the Medical Knowledge Assessment Recognition Program and submit learner data.

ABIM and ACCME will begin beta testing the technology later this month, and they expect to have the process open for accredited CME providers that meet standards set by ABIM by the end of 2015. The ACCME will maintain a list of activities that have met ABIM requirements and are registered for MOC credit. This list will be publicly available on the ACCME website, providing a one-stop resource for ABIM diplomates seeking to earn ABIM MOC credits by participating in accredited CME. Data verifying that diplomates have completed the activity will be communicated through PARS to ABIM.

This collaboration offers additional choices for CME providers and internists without adding any new ACCME requirements. Diplomates have the option to pursue CME activities that have been registered for MOC credit, while ACCME providers have the option—but are not required—to offer accredited CME that meets ABIM MOC requirements and to submit activity and learner data through PARS to ABIM.

Click here to read the full press release.