ABIM Unveils New Process for Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine MOC

The Hospitalist. 2014 January;2014(01):

January 1, 2014 | The Hospitalist

“If you’re a hospitalist and you’re invested in the field, this is an important statement to make on behalf of your specialty,” he says. “It can give you some added respect within your institution when people ask you about specialized training in hospital medicine.”

Even if hospitalists didn’t have specialized training, the FPHM MOC demonstrates that they “did have to pass a specialized certification process that gives different credentials,” Dr. Brotman says. “This is the best way to do that.”

He also sees it as an individual benefit for hospitalists—both for their career advancement and their peace of mind—knowing that they are more up to date with their clinical practice.

“You practice hospital medicine. If you want an exam that hits the ball to your forehand, this is it,” he says. “If you’re nervous about the board exam, I’d be more nervous about taking a generalized exam.”

Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.

Start Now for 2014

The Hospital Medicine MOC secure exams are offered every spring and fall. Although the dates might seem far off now, hospitalists interested in taking the Hospital Medicine MOC exam must complete the entry process for the FPHM program at least two weeks before the exam registration deadline. For the spring MOC exam, this means hospitalists must complete the FPHM program entry process by Feb. 14, 2014, for the Spring 2014 exam, and Aug. 1, 2014, for the Fall 2014 exam.

To complete the entry process, hospitalists must:

Be licensed and in good standing.
Hold current or previous ABIM certification in Internal Medicine and current Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification.
Complete at least three years of unsupervised hospital medicine practice experience prior to entry into the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine MOC program. Formal fellowship training in a hospital medicine fellowship program can be counted toward the three-year practice experience criteria.
Electronically submit a self-attestation and an attestation from a Senior Hospital Officer (SHO) that they meet the patient encounter thresholds for internal medicine practice in the hospital setting.

Once enrolled, hospitalists will be eligible to schedule a seat for the Hospital Medicine MOC exam during the registration period; however, the ABIM stipulates that hospitalists must be entered into the program at least two weeks prior to the exam date.

At the same time, hospitalists must have completed 100 points of self-evaluation within the last 10 years. Twenty of the points in Self-Evaluation of Medical Knowledge and 40 points in Self-Evaluation of Practice Performance must have been completed in the last three years.