ABA MOCA recertfication written exams now $2100? WTF?

[aneftp]

WTF? Just got email from ABA about my eligibility for the written MOCAs.

My certificate doesn't expire till end of 2015 but I figure I might as well just get it over with.

Than I see the bill. $2100? That's crazy. My colleague just took their 2010 MOCA recertification in July 2010 and he told me he only paid $900.

How can the ABA increase the fees for MOCA by $1200 in less than 18 months?


"The computer-delivered exam will be administered to candidates at test centers in more than 300 cities located throughout the United States, Canada and the U.S. Territories.

Registration Deadline and Examination Fees:

Exam: January 14-28, 2012
Registration Deadline: November 20, 2011
Examination Fee: $2,100
Re-Examination Fee: $800"

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted126335]

WTF? Just got email from ABA about my eligibility for the written MOCAs.

My certificate doesn't expire till end of 2015 but I figure I might as well just get it over with.

Than I see the bill. $2100? That's crazy. My colleague just took their 2010 MOCA recertification in July 2010 and he told me he only paid $900.

How can the ABA increase the fees for MOCA by $1200 in less than 18 months?


"The computer-delivered exam will be administered to candidates at test centers in more than 300 cities located throughout the United States, Canada and the U.S. Territories.

Registration Deadline and Examination Fees:

Exam: January 14-28, 2012
Registration Deadline: November 20, 2011
Examination Fee: $2,100
Re-Examination Fee: $800"

Because they can.

 

[aneftp]

Because they can.

I know but that doesn't make it right. Nothing really justifies an increase from $900 to $2100 in just a short amount of time.

It's done on the computer, so unless the computer learning center has also jacked up their rates, it's pure greed.

 

[Bertelman]

I know but that doesn't make it right. Nothing really justifies an increase from $900 to $2100 in just a short amount of time.

It's done on the computer, so unless the computer learning center has also jacked up their rates, it's pure greed.

The ABA is a non-profit, so they would argue additional fees go towards supporting the ABA, which of course is in your best interest.

Don't tell me you are only beginning to understand the fleecing of physicians to maintain certification. How about the near-$1000 I had to pay for several hours of demonstrating my command of the English language to a group of standardized patients for my Step III CS? One year it wasn't a test, the next year it was.

 

[OB1🤙]

How about the near-$1000 I had to pay for several hours of demonstrating my command of the English language to a group of standardized patients for my Step III CS? One year it wasn't a test, the next year it was.

Don't sell Step 2 CS short. You didn't just have to demonstrate an ability to communicate in the English language. You also had to show that you were capable of expertly maneuvering a drape over the patient, and had the ability to conduct a medical encounter without physically assaulting the patient. That isn't always easy.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Don't sell Step 2 CS short. You didn't just have to demonstrate an ability to communicate in the English language. You also had to show that you were capable of expertly maneuvering a drape over the patient, and had the ability to conduct a medical encounter without physically assaulting the patient. That isn't always easy.

M'eh.

It's all a racket.

 

[deleted682700]

Yes the whole medical practice in America is being questioned by ordinary Americans. Bloggers think that greedy doctors are basically working for the agendas of big pharma and device manufacturers. Of course the ordinary American cannot pay anything from his pocket. He wants everything done because someone else picks up the tab.
The tax payer picks up the tab and corporate welfare at the finest. Socialize the losses and privatize the profits. Yes welcome to the new reality in American corporate world

 

[drrosenrosen]

Check your emails. MOCA 2.0 is being piloted, and looks like they're actually making some substantive changes, but still bilking money out of people. www.nbpas.org for me.

 

[deleted50478]

Check your emails. MOCA 2.0 is being piloted, and looks like they're actually making some substantive changes, but still bilking money out of people. www.nbpas.org for me.

My main complaint is gone:

• As of Jan.1, 2016, simulation will become an optional Part 4 activity. We consider simulation a valuable education tool and will continue to strongly encourage it.

 

[pgg]

Check your emails. MOCA 2.0 is being piloted, and looks like they're actually making some substantive changes, but still bilking money out of people. www.nbpas.org for me.

Just saw that -

"The MOCA Minute application, an interactive learning tool that we began piloting in 2014, will replace the MOCA Examination"

This could turn out to be very good.

"As of Jan.1, 2016, simulation will become an optional Part 4 activity"

Nice.

"There will be an annual $210 fee to participate in MOCA 2.0, which will replace the current $2,100 MOCA fee paid every 10 years."

No change ... :-|


Perhaps not just the cynical renaming shell game I thought it was going to be, based on the last email they sent.

 

[pmichaelmd]

Just got that email as well. While I am not impressed with the pricing scheme, the other changes seem substantive and make sense. At $210/year, at least it is broken up into manageable quanta and is much cheaper than membership dues in our state and national societies.

I think this is a change for the better.​

 

[CajunGas]

Just saw that -

"The MOCA Minute application, an interactive learning tool that we began piloting in 2014, will replace the MOCA Examination"

This could turn out to be very good.

"As of Jan.1, 2016, simulation will become an optional Part 4 activity"

Nice.

"There will be an annual $210 fee to participate in MOCA 2.0, which will replace the current $2,100 MOCA fee paid every 10 years."

No change ... :-|


Perhaps not just the cynical renaming shell game I thought it was going to be, based on the last email they sent.

So is the cognitive exam really being replaced ? And what is the moca minute?

 

[BLADEMDA]

I like MOCA 2.0 and hope 99% of all MOCA requirements are web based or booklets. With Video, Online interactions, etc MOCA 2.0 is a major step into the 21st century.

I have been doing the MOCA minute very week for sometime now and believe it to be superior to the old, written exam.

 

[IlDestriero]

I've been doing the Moca minute.
They send you a link to a question every week by email and you have 60 seconds to answer it. It is generally clinically based and at the end there is an explanation.

 

[norwood]

Perhaps not just the cynical renaming shell game I thought it was going to be, based on the last email they sent.

Yeah, I was very happily surprised so far. Wonder what they're planning for this Part 4 as an alternative to the sim centers, and I also wonder whether market competition (now that sim centers aren't mandated anymore) will cause the price of a day at the sim center to fall to more reasonable levels.

 

[ether123]

This is another example of how physicians are getting screwed on both ends - the cost of practicing and also decreased reimbursement. which upsets me most is that those setting these fees are fellow physicians and yet they allow this to continue

 

[DreamLover]

I like MOCA 2.0 and hope 99% of all MOCA requirements are web based or booklets. With Video, Online interactions, etc MOCA 2.0 is a major step into the 21st century.

I have been doing the MOCA minute very week for sometime now and believe it to be superior to the old, written exam.

The best part about the MOCA 2.0 MOCA minutes is not just that it's replacing the tired idea of useless standardized testing but that the questions from the MOCA minutes are going to be able to follow your skill/education deficiencies and adapt the questioning to things that may actually help you individually become better...adaptive learning-that's the future in education and testing.

Don't get me wrong-I think the ABMS and MOCA is a money making scheme, but for now it's a large, permanent thorn in our sides if we want too maintain their certification.

I'd rather the payments over time and a web based educational tool anyway over the current setup. Just out of convenience if anything else.

 

[deleted682700]

This is another example of how physicians are getting screwed on both ends - the cost of practicing and also decreased reimbursement. which upsets me most is that those setting these fees are fellow physicians and yet they allow this to continue

Yes remember your fellow physicians will testify and get you into trouble, just so that they can boss over u and show that they are smarter. Yes you better be nice to your colleagues because they do peer review when cases go sour.
If you observe their facial expression, they get some strange happiness when u are miserable.

 

[Spine Specialist]

http://www.newsweek.com/medical-mystery-making-sense-abims-financial-report-334772

 

[deleted682700]

And if any doctor dare to question the integrity of the process, their current job, their future livelihood will a all be threatened. No wonder doctors become moody, have substance abuse, have marital discords, lash out when provoked by nurses or other doctors.

 

[deleted682700]

Better be re-certified and do whatever mocha/aba wants. We have a doctor CEO who wants to employ those physicians that are 100 percent compliant. I know of one anesthesiologist who was board certified but dropped out of mocha and did not elect to recertify that may not get a hospital based anesthesiologist position. Very good anesthesiologist, Working in a surgery center now, personally would hire as a partner.

 

[deleted682700]

http://www.newsweek.com/medical-mystery-making-sense-abims-financial-report-334772

These are questions for the tenured 64 year old chairman of the department of anesthesia to ask, for the rest of us, let's just be compliant and be moca whatever