Overview
Once Board Certified, physicians maintain their medical specialty expertise by participating in a robust continuous professional development program called the ABMS Program for MOC (Maintenance of Certification). The MOC program provides physicians a structured approach for enhancing patient care and improving patient outcomes through focused assessment and improvement activities.
The ABMS Program for MOC involves ongoing measurement of six core competencies defined by ABMS and ACGME:
- Practice-based Learning and Improvement
- Patient Care and Procedural Skills
- Systems-based Practice
- Medical Knowledge
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills
- Professionalism
These competencies are measured in the ABMS Program for MOC within a four-part framework:
- Part I: Professionalism and Professional Standing
- Part II: Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment
- Part III: Assessment of Knowledge, Judgment, and Skills
- Part IV: Improvement in Medical Practice
All Programs for MOC implemented by the Member Boards measure the same six competencies within the same four-part framework.
Specific requirements of individual specialty boards vary. Within this four-part framework each specialty board has developed its own specific requirements, options for meeting them, and timeframes in which they must be met (see ABMS Specialty Boards). Despite some variation in the activities, they are all built upon evidence-based guidelines, national clinical and quality standards, and specialty best practices.
The UR Medicine MOC Program focuses on helping physicians meet requirements for MOC Part IV credit through the Multi-Specialty MOC Portfolio Approval Program.
Multi-Specialty MOC Portfolio Approval Program
The ABMS Multi-Specialty MOC Portfolio Approval Program (Portfolio Program) offers a single process for healthcare organizations to support physician involvement in quality improvement and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) across multiple ABMS specialties. This pathway offers a streamlined approach for organizations that sponsor and support multiple well-designed quality improvement efforts involving physicians across multiple disciplines to work with ABMS Member Boards to grant MOC Part IV credit to physicians who are involved in those improvement efforts.
The Portfolio Program is only one pathway for physicians to obtain MOC Part IV credit and is not an approved pathway for all ABMS Member Boards. Organizations that elect not to pursue this pathway may still choose to submit quality improvement efforts to individual Boards for approval. Individual Boards offer a variety of other pathways for physicians to receive MOC Part IV credit.
UR Medicine was approved as a Portfolio Sponsor February 1, 2015. As of the end of 2020, UR Medicine has had 45 QI activities approved with 210 completions awarded MOC Part IV credit. 132 of our physicians have taken advantage of this opportunity.