Wow. I'm conflicted. On the one hand, it's hard not to see this as a very positive move on the part of the ABA. No closed-book test and no sim, replaced by online questions- this is clearly a meaningful reform, which the ABA can be applauded for.
BUT. But. The "practice improvement" crap is still there. If they can make it so that the real, actual stuff we do for our own practice improvement efforts counts toward this, that's one thing. Because I do all kinds of stuff all the time, from going to meetings, to having journal clubs, arranging didactics, case conferences, etc. I shouldn't have to do anything more. I also think that participating in a registry like NACOR or the STS anesthesia database should automatically earn this credit.
And the cost. Yes, we no longer have to burn a day or two of opportunity cost of work or precious vacation to do the dumb sim, nor pay the almost $2000 registration plus the travel costs. That's a good thing. But $2100 is still a lot of money, and I agree with those that question this number. If all they're doing is coming up with questions to email, it seems hard to justify that cost.
Here's what makes me happy- the choice between NBPAS and staying with the ABA is now a closer decision. If NBPAS is about $850 per ten years, and the ABA is $2100, I'm basically paying $1250 for ten years' worth of weekly "current" questions. That's expensive, but it's not as completely ridiculous as the choice before. With all the opportunity/travel costs between the sim and the test, MOCA was more than $9K per cycle- that was a no-brainer in favor of NBPAS.
I think they should make the cost commensurate with their expense to produce the questions, and ditch the PPAI stuff entirely. Then I'll be truly happy.