"We got it wrong and sincerely apologize. We are sorry," reads a letter from Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine.
The letter, addressed to the internal medicine community, addresses recent complaints about ABIM's changes to its Maintenance of Certification program, which involved program requirements to be completed on a shorter, continuous cycle.
The letter states, "it is clear that parts of the new program are not meeting the needs of physicians," and says ABIM is open to discussing how to improve the MOC program.
It also outlines the following changes to the current MOC program.
- The Practice Assessment, Patient Voice and Patient Safety requirements will be immediately suspended for at least two years. Certification statuses will not be changed for at least two years if internists have not completed these requirements.
- Public listings on websites will read, "participating in MOC," rather than "meeting MOC requirements," or "not meeting MOC requirements." Changes are expected on ABIM's website within six months.
- The Internal Medicine MOC exam will be updated for fall 2015 to reflect current physician practices.
- The enrollment fee will be locked at or below 2014 levels through 2017.
- ABIM will accept most forms of ACCME-approved CME by the end of this year as a way for physicians to show self-assessment of medical knowledge.
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