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The
American Board of Radiology
now has information available about the
maintenance
of certification examination (MOC) available.
Useful Resources:
1.
Radiology
Quality.com
– This new site offers help with part Four of the
Maintentance of Certification process. This is the
performance quality improvement section. This particular
section of the MOC process is the most difficult to understand
and comply with based upon the lack of available information
about this requirement. This new site is under development,
but will in the future assist radiologists to comply with
their quality improvement project requirement.
A summary of
the four components that form the model for Maintenance of
Certification are:
Part One: Professional
Standing.
Part Two: Lifelong Learning
and Self-Assessment.
Lifelong Learning:
Requires a minimum of 500 CME credit hours, approved by the
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)
over the 10-year cycle, with 250 of those 500 hours in
Category 1 and the remaining in Category 1 or 2. A minimum of
70% of the 500 hours must be in specialty-specific or related
areas, with the remaining 30% being allowed in either
nonspecialty specific clinically-related general CME; or
relevant topics such as risk assessment, ethics, processes of
continuous quality improvement, methodologies of
measurements of outcomes, statistics, etc.
Self-Assessment:
Self-assessment will be accomplished through a series of
Self-Assessment Modules (SAMs), which are also ACCME CME
Category 1-approved activities. To count toward MOC, SAMs
must be ABR-accepted and will be classified into two
subgroups. One will be General Content, required of all
diplomates. A second group, Clinical Content, will
consist of SAMs selected by the diplomate from multiple
specialty and subspecialty modules. Each SAM will consist of
ABR-accepted instructional content followed by
multiple-choice questions. Feedback to the diplomate will
consist of correct answers, evaluation of performance in the
participating group, and relevant references and
discussion. Twenty (20) SAMs will be required for completion
over the 10-year cycle, with an ideal of two per year. Twenty
percent (20%) of SAMs or four (4) over 10 years will be
from the General Content category. Eighty percent (80%) of
SAMs or sixteen (16) over 10 years will be from the Clinical
Content category. SAMs will be accepted by the ABR and
developed by Diagnostic Radiology societies, subspecialty
societies, and other qualified organizations. SAMs are for
individual self-assessment and to direct further CME
activities. Individual scores will not be entered into the ABR
database, but will remain confidential to the physician. The
content of the clinical SAMs selected by the diplomate
(and the general SAMs accepted by the ABR) will be related to
the diplomate's cognitive expertise examination. The diplomate
will be responsible for documenting successful completion
of the SAMs during the 10-year period and for validating and
recording CME self-assessment data. Eventually, this data may
be entered into the electronic repositories of national
societies and subspecialty societies, into other repositories
that can be made available to the ABR, or directly onto the
ABR website. In some instances, data may need to be submitted
to the ABR in hardcopy form.
Part Three:
Cognitive Expertise. The ABR cognitive MOC examination for
maintenance of the primary certificate in the specialty of
Diagnostic Radiology will be a computer-based
examination. It will be offered initially in 2009, then
annually. The ABR's Diagnostic Radiology subspecialty
examinations (formerly CAQs) will be offered annually
starting in 2004, even as the other ABR-MOC components in the
subspecialties are being developed to complete the transition
to the new paradigm. The subspecialty examinations will
be proctored and secure; these case-based computerized
examinations will cover the prescribed knowledge determined by
the ABR to be necessary for the practice of the
subspecialties.
The cognitive examination in
Diagnostic Radiology to be implemented in 2009 will consist of
general and clinical content. General Content will be
applicable to all diplomates and thus will be part of
each diplomate's cognitive examination (not to exceed 20% of
the content of the examination). It will be derived from the
topic areas of the General Content SAMs. (The CME and
SAMs will be produced and made available through the various
radiology specialty and subspecialty societies). The Clinical
Content SAMs (diplomate-selected, individualized for
practice emphasis and needs assessment) will comprise up to
80% of the cognitive examination. These will also be
ABR-accepted, but produced and made available through
radiology societies.
The ABR cognitive MOC examination
for Diagnostic Radiology could cover content areas from one
of, or any combination of: Musculoskeletal,
Cardio-Pulmonary, Gastrointestinal, Genitourinary,
Neuroradiology, Vascular/Interventional, Ultrasound,
Pediatrics, Nuclear Radiology, Breast Radiology, Patient
Safety, and Socioeconomic Concepts. The subspecialties
will cover their specific areas of certification.
Part
Four: Assessment of Performance in Practice. Practice
performance, still under consideration with input from
ABR-sponsoring societies and other societies, will focus on
practice improvement, and will offer diplomates a choice of
ways in which to meet the component. The ABMS has not as yet
approved the ABR practice performance plans;
approval
may not be finalized until 2005 or early 2006.
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