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Dear Colleague,
As part of our ongoing improvement of ABR's Maintenance of Certification Program, the American Board of Radiology has committed to a major revision to MOC Part 3, Assessment of Knowledge, Judgment and Skills. The ABR's Board members and staff have listened to the concerns of diplomates regarding our MOC program and have responded by instituting a change that we feel is consistent with our goal of providing a meaningful credential that is backed by evidence-based processes and, at the same time, is relevant to the practices of our diplomates.
Our intent is to replace the current 10-year requirement for a traditional proctored examination, offered at exam centers, with a continuous assessment that leverages advances in technology to bring the process to the diplomates online. The online longitudinal assessment model that we have adopted incorporates modern and more relevant adult learning concepts to provide psychometrically valid sampling of diplomate knowledge. At the same time, we will offer real-time feedback for diplomates to remediate any gaps in knowledge as they are uncovered. This accomplishes the two major goals of MOC Part 3 as it relates to Continuous Certification: (1) providing assurance of diplomate competence for our patients and the public, and (2) support of continuous professional development through lifelong learning.
This new process, which has been well-vetted by the American Board of Anesthesiology with overwhelming diplomate satisfaction, will be both an assessment of learning and an assessment for learning. This change will not affect the ABR's initial certification examinations for diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology, medical physics, interventional radiology, or any subspecialties.
OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS
In the online assessment platform we are designing, diplomates will create a practice profile of the subspecialty areas that most closely fit what they do in practice, as they do now for our modular MOC examinations. They will receive weekly emails with links to questions relevant to their registered practice profile. For convenience, questions may be answered singly or, for a reasonable time, in small batches. After opening a web-based question, the diplomate will be allowed a limited amount of time, appropriate to the question, to answer.
Diplomates will learn immediately whether they answered correctly or not and will be presented with the question's rationale, a critique of the answers, and brief educational material. This feedback will assist them by guiding their CME (MOC Part 2) plan for lifelong learning, an essential component of professional development. Those who answer questions incorrectly will receive future questions on the same topic to gauge whether they have learned the material.
Online longitudinal assessment is designed to have minimal impact on a diplomate's workday and requires no time away from work or travel expense. The evidence-based education model ensures both a summative assessment of knowledge as well as a personal learning benefit from participation. The potential for retesting areas of weakness provides a further opportunity for diplomates' self-assessment of their professional growth.
IMPLEMENTATION
It will take considerable time for the ABR to fully develop, test, and implement this extensive change in MOC Part 3. Thus, precise implementation rules and details including ultimate format, scoring, and reporting are yet to be finalized. The ABR anticipates a pilot of online longitudinal assessment, lasting approximately six months or more, to be launched in the latter part of 2018. After the pilot has been completed and any necessary modifications have been made, availability to ABR diplomates may begin as early as mid-2019. As with all of the ABR's MOC improvements, the finalized Part 3 assessment process will be phased in for diplomates in the various ABR disciplines as quickly as possible and as appropriate to the discipline.
If you are participating in MOC, you are probably asking, "How does this affect me, and do I still need to take an MOC exam?" You can determine your need to take an MOC exam by logging in to myABR:
On behalf of the Board of Governors, Board of the Trustees, and ABR staff, I wish to offer our sincere gratitude to you, our diplomates, who continue to contribute to these initiatives through your feedback and ongoing support.
As part of our ongoing improvement of ABR's Maintenance of Certification Program, the American Board of Radiology has committed to a major revision to MOC Part 3, Assessment of Knowledge, Judgment and Skills. The ABR's Board members and staff have listened to the concerns of diplomates regarding our MOC program and have responded by instituting a change that we feel is consistent with our goal of providing a meaningful credential that is backed by evidence-based processes and, at the same time, is relevant to the practices of our diplomates.
Our intent is to replace the current 10-year requirement for a traditional proctored examination, offered at exam centers, with a continuous assessment that leverages advances in technology to bring the process to the diplomates online. The online longitudinal assessment model that we have adopted incorporates modern and more relevant adult learning concepts to provide psychometrically valid sampling of diplomate knowledge. At the same time, we will offer real-time feedback for diplomates to remediate any gaps in knowledge as they are uncovered. This accomplishes the two major goals of MOC Part 3 as it relates to Continuous Certification: (1) providing assurance of diplomate competence for our patients and the public, and (2) support of continuous professional development through lifelong learning.
This new process, which has been well-vetted by the American Board of Anesthesiology with overwhelming diplomate satisfaction, will be both an assessment of learning and an assessment for learning. This change will not affect the ABR's initial certification examinations for diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology, medical physics, interventional radiology, or any subspecialties.
OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS
In the online assessment platform we are designing, diplomates will create a practice profile of the subspecialty areas that most closely fit what they do in practice, as they do now for our modular MOC examinations. They will receive weekly emails with links to questions relevant to their registered practice profile. For convenience, questions may be answered singly or, for a reasonable time, in small batches. After opening a web-based question, the diplomate will be allowed a limited amount of time, appropriate to the question, to answer.
Diplomates will learn immediately whether they answered correctly or not and will be presented with the question's rationale, a critique of the answers, and brief educational material. This feedback will assist them by guiding their CME (MOC Part 2) plan for lifelong learning, an essential component of professional development. Those who answer questions incorrectly will receive future questions on the same topic to gauge whether they have learned the material.
Online longitudinal assessment is designed to have minimal impact on a diplomate's workday and requires no time away from work or travel expense. The evidence-based education model ensures both a summative assessment of knowledge as well as a personal learning benefit from participation. The potential for retesting areas of weakness provides a further opportunity for diplomates' self-assessment of their professional growth.
IMPLEMENTATION
It will take considerable time for the ABR to fully develop, test, and implement this extensive change in MOC Part 3. Thus, precise implementation rules and details including ultimate format, scoring, and reporting are yet to be finalized. The ABR anticipates a pilot of online longitudinal assessment, lasting approximately six months or more, to be launched in the latter part of 2018. After the pilot has been completed and any necessary modifications have been made, availability to ABR diplomates may begin as early as mid-2019. As with all of the ABR's MOC improvements, the finalized Part 3 assessment process will be phased in for diplomates in the various ABR disciplines as quickly as possible and as appropriate to the discipline.
If you are participating in MOC, you are probably asking, "How does this affect me, and do I still need to take an MOC exam?" You can determine your need to take an MOC exam by logging in to myABR:
- If you need to PASS AN MOC EXAMINATION by MARCH 2, 2017 (as indicated on the Part 3 tab in myABR), you are still required to take and pass the exam in 2016 to meet the Part 3 requirement.
- All other diplomates in all of ABR's disciplines will be exempt from completing the Part 3 exam requirement until the new MOC Part 3 process is available in their discipline. (This does not include Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Pain Medicine subspecialties.)
- Changes to myABR will be implemented in the coming weeks to reflect this update.
- To ensure your certificate remains valid, you must continue meeting requirements for Parts 1, 2, and 4 of MOC and make your yearly attestations in myABR.
On behalf of the Board of Governors, Board of the Trustees, and ABR staff, I wish to offer our sincere gratitude to you, our diplomates, who continue to contribute to these initiatives through your feedback and ongoing support.
