ABIM and MOC status - wtf?

[dozitgetchahi]

So when I originally took the IM certification exam a while back, my understanding was that you could either take the test every 10 years OR participate in MOC. My choice was to take the test every 10 years (actually, my choice was to let the IM cert lapse in 10 years because I held the rheumatology cert, but I digress).

So imagine my surprise when I logged into the ABIM portal and found they had suddenly flipped my IM cert status to “not certified” because I hadn’t submitted enough “MOC points” by the end of 2022. Apparently this rule changed at some point? Apparently they will also flip it back if I give them enough “MOC points”. I have plenty of CME activities to send them that will give me enough MOC points, but still, what the ****. I get that they’ve changed policies a bazillion times because everyone keeps complaining about all of it, but I think it’s garbage that they’ve gone back on a longstanding option and (as far as I can tell) didn’t really tell everybody.

ABIM has made a number of douchebag moves this year - these jokers already flipped me to “not certified” at one point earlier in the year because I didn’t pay them hundreds of dollars a year to “maintain the certification”. Now, this happens. They used to be annoying but now they’ve earned a permanent place on the **** list. I fully support moving to some other certification board in the future.

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[Angler]

ABIM is a money grab, for sure. I am fortunate. I am retired. Also, I possess a lifetime certification.

ABIM never asked me for money for the majority of my career. Then, at some point, they started charging money when MOC started; this despite my "lifetime" certification. When I didn't pay, they threatened me with the label "not maintaining certification." At least, that is what I think they threatened me with; I don't really want to try to remember. I paid them some money at some point because my job required certification and I didn't want to mess with the administrators at work. But as I got closer to retirement, maybe the last five years or so, I ignored ABIM altogether and their emails, etc.

At my work, there were "MOC" seminars to assist with docs to maintain their certification with whatever activities were needed (like self improvement, longitudinal case reports or something like that). The rules were so arcane, my head was spinning. I think the rules are still complicated and contrived. And you have to pay to get tortured!

I feel for the youngsters out there who have to do all this crap.

 

[DrMetal]

It's our own fault.

Board Certification itself is a fictitious credential. You went to medical school, completed a residency, +/- fellowship . . . that should be enough to practice [if it's not, then what the hell is?]

Having said that, consider NBPAS: National Board of Physicians and Surgeons

NBPAS is becoming more accepted and doesn't require MOC.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

So when I originally took the IM certification exam a while back, my understanding was that you could either take the test every 10 years OR participate in MOC. My choice was to take the test every 10 years (actually, my choice was to let the IM cert lapse in 10 years because I held the rheumatology cert, but I digress).

So imagine my surprise when I logged into the ABIM portal and found they had suddenly flipped my IM cert status to “not certified” because I hadn’t submitted enough “MOC points” by the end of 2022. Apparently this rule changed at some point? Apparently they will also flip it back if I give them enough “MOC points”. I have plenty of CME activities to send them that will give me enough MOC points, but still, what the ****. I get that they’ve changed policies a bazillion times because everyone keeps complaining about all of it, but I think it’s garbage that they’ve gone back on a longstanding option and (as far as I can tell) didn’t really tell everybody.

ABIM has made a number of douchebag moves this year - these jokers already flipped me to “not certified” at one point earlier in the year because I didn’t pay them hundreds of dollars a year to “maintain the certification”. Now, this happens. They used to be annoying but now they’ve earned a permanent place on the **** list. I fully support moving to some other certification board in the future.

I'm guessing this happened recently which means you, my wife, and I likely finished residency at around the same time (2013/2014 for us).

I don't know exactly when MOC started, but between that time and the introduction of what the ABIM calls the Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (and the ABFM calls something similar) it was always "MOC every year and retake the exam every 10".

 

[dgdg]

You need to pay them a periodic tithing and submit a certain amount of CME to stay certified.
Additionally, you need to do one of two MOC question based exams. Both are open book using UpToDate.
One exam is a never ending small amount of questions quarterly, the other is the 10 year 'one and done' exam. I always choose the 10 year exam. I don't want to have a monkey on my back every quarter to do questions with only an extra 2 minutes per question.
It's all on their website. So it goes.
The requirements are much less onerous now compared to, I'm guessing, 5-8+ years ago. Fortunately my recert exams fell just on either side of that hot mess. So my recert requirements were chiefly CME and the 10 year exam. I have UpToDate automatically send my completed CME to ABIM - easy.

 

[pishicat]

does anyone work for the government? If you’re a government employee, would it make sense to recertify in internal medicine?. I’m supposed to recertify again next year and I’m thinking of letting it lapse. I don’t work in a hospital and I don’t see private patients, malpractice would not even be an issue, because it falls under the governments umbrella. where would I find that answer?

 

[gutonc]

does anyone work for the government? If you’re a government employee, would it make sense to recertify in internal medicine?. I’m supposed to recertify again next year and I’m thinking of letting it lapse. I don’t work in a hospital and I don’t see private patients, malpractice would not even be an issue, because it falls under the governments umbrella. where would I find that answer?

HR.

My contract says I have to maintain board cert/MOC and they check it every year before I get my contract renewal.

 

[pishicat]

HR.

My contract says I have to maintain board cert/MOC and they check it every year before I get my contract renewal.

Oh , thanks- yeah when I was a contractor for the government, I also had that in my contract. I was told it’s because board certification gets the contract company a cheaper malpractice price for me.
But now I am an actual federal employee. So I’m just wondering whether that still holds true

 

[pishicat]

if you’re due for a recertification in 2024, and you take the exam( I guess it’s offered twice in that year. ) - and God forbid you fail, both, can you then sign up for the LKA, this way you get an extra five years - or does your status immediate say “not certfied forever until you pass the exam? ? I guess I am asking can you switch back-and-forth between LKA and the traditional one day center exam? because on the ABIM-iOS site, it says that as long as you are participating properly in the LKA, your status shows a certified for five years. So one could potentially take the one day exam in the year it is due, and if they fail that year, they could immediately then sign up for the LK assessment and stretch it out for five years beyond

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Feedback from others in the LKA is very positive. When the LKA first came out, it was an every 2 years, online exam, take at home, proctored by video camera. Everyone I know who tried this hated it, basically felt it was like the 10 year exam just 5x as often. The ABIM stopped that, and this new version seems much better.

 

[gutonc]

Oh , thanks- yeah when I was a contractor for the government, I also had that in my contract. I was told it’s because board certification gets the contract company a cheaper malpractice price for me.
But now I am an actual federal employee. So I’m just wondering whether that still holds true

Do you not have a contract with the federal government? Do you just have a handshake agreement for your job? Maybe it's called an "employment agreement" or something similar, but I assure you, you signed something somewhere along the line that outlined your, and the gummint's, rights and responsibilities in this position.

Again, ask HR.

 

[pishicat]

It was a final offer letter - it only said that I should have an active medical license in any of the 50 states. Thanks , I’ll ask HR

 

[zeloc]

it’s garbage that they’ve gone back on a longstanding option and (as far as I can tell) didn’t really tell everybody.

ABIM has made a number of douchebag moves this year - these jokers already flipped me to “not certified” at one point earlier in the year because I didn’t pay them hundreds of dollars a year ...

I fully support moving to some other certification board in the future.

Everyone supports moving to some other certification but the ABIM doesn't care about your or anyone else's complaints. Nothing changes as long as they are collecting your dues.

The racket here is that you paid for and had your 10-year certification and then they decided DURING the 10-year period that they wanted more money and new requirements (which was because they were in financial difficulty due to mismanaging funds and couldn't charge more without having a reason for it).

File complaints with the BBB and FTC. Ask your boss if it's required and if it's not, don't re-certify with them. There's a change.org petition right now that has 10,000 signatures, physicians are using their own names. If every physician took 10-20 minutes to do some of the above, this changes overnight.

There was a big backlash when the ABIM just tweeted a pic of someone doing their online assessment while on vacation, because of work/life balance issues. The ABIM is completely out of touch with reality. An editorial a few months ago by the president mentioned something about pagers being obsolete and not being used anymore. Since he hasn't practiced in probably decades, he doesn't know that pagers are still widely used and effective in many settings.

 

[musicandtennis]

So when I originally took the IM certification exam a while back, my understanding was that you could either take the test every 10 years OR participate in MOC. My choice was to take the test every 10 years (actually, my choice was to let the IM cert lapse in 10 years because I held the rheumatology cert, but I digress).

So imagine my surprise when I logged into the ABIM portal and found they had suddenly flipped my IM cert status to “not certified” because I hadn’t submitted enough “MOC points” by the end of 2022. Apparently this rule changed at some point? Apparently they will also flip it back if I give them enough “MOC points”. I have plenty of CME activities to send them that will give me enough MOC points, but still, what the ****. I get that they’ve changed policies a bazillion times because everyone keeps complaining about all of it, but I think it’s garbage that they’ve gone back on a longstanding option and (as far as I can tell) didn’t really tell everybody.

ABIM has made a number of douchebag moves this year - these jokers already flipped me to “not certified” at one point earlier in the year because I didn’t pay them hundreds of dollars a year to “maintain the certification”. Now, this happens. They used to be annoying but now they’ve earned a permanent place on the **** list. I fully support moving to some other certification board in the future.

Totally agree.
I know other rheum docs pushing not to use ABIM anymore, but rather another certification board. Forgot the name of it.