A guide to the mysteries of maintenance of certification
The MOC process is manageable, but you need to be conversant with its elements
A change in status from Category 1b or 2 to Category 1a (eg, moving from a purely administrative position to one with clinical duties) requires completion of ≥1 PIP unit.
The easy parts
Licenses. Maintaining your unrestricted professional license(s) is mandatory; the language of this requirement is unambiguous (Table).5 The plural form of license is intentional: Some physicians have medical licenses in multiple states and, in some jurisdictions, licenses are required to supervise physician assistants and other personnel or to prescribe controlled substances. Any restriction on a professional license should be discussed with ABPN and resolved to prevent rejection of the examination application.5
Examinations. For physicians who are not yet enrolled in the continuous-MOC (C-MOC) process (to be discussed in Part 2 of this article), an application to take the examination in Year 10 can be filed in Year 9 of the cycle—after the CME, SA, and PIP requirements are completed. Once a diplomate becomes subject to the C-MOC process by certifying or recertifying from 2012 onwards, completion of each 3-year module of CME, SA, and PIP will not coincide with the 10-year time frame of the examination.
The application deadline for all MOC examinations typically is the year before the examination; the examination should be taken in the year the certificate expires, although it can be taken earlier if desired.7 The examinations are computer-based and administered at a certified testing center. For diplomates who have more than 1 ABPN certificate and want to combine multiple examinations into 1 test session, a reduced fee structure applies.
The general psychiatry examination comprises 220 single-answer, multiple-choice questions that must be completed within 290 minutes, with 10 extra minutes allotted to read on-screen instructions, sign in, and complete a post-examination survey.8 The combined examinations comprise 100 questions from each ABPN specialty or subspecialty area.5
The content of the 2015 general psychiatry examinationb is available on the ABPN Web site.7 Note that the recertification examination in general psychiatry does not cover neurology topics.
bDownload the outline of the examination at www.abpn.com/ downloads/content_outlines/MOC/2015-MOC-Psych-blueprint-060314-EWM-MR.pdf.
Examinations administered in 2015 and 2016 will use only diagnostic criteria that have not changed from DSM-IV-TR9: Neither obsolete diagnoses or subtypes from DSM-IV-TR nor new diagnoses or subtypes in DSM-5 (eg, hoarding disorder) will be tested.9 Diagnoses that are exactly or substantially the same will be tested; these include diagnoses:
• with a name change only (eg, “phonological disorder” in DSM-IV-TR is “speech sound disorder” in DSM-5)
• expanded into >1 new diagnosis (eg, hypochondriasis was expanded to 2 new diagnoses: somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder)
• subsumed or combined into a new diagnosis (eg, substance use and dependence are now combined into substance use disorder in DSM-5).9
For these diagnoses, both DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 diagnoses will be provided on examinations.
Beginning in 2017, all examinations will use DSM-5 classifications and diagnostic criteria.9
Part 2 of this article in the January 2015 issue reviews other key aspects of MOC: continuing medical education (CME), including self-assessment requirements; performance in practice (PIP); and continuous maintenance of certification (C-MOC).
BOTTOM LINE
Maintenance of certification (MOC) is a manageable process, although it requires you to be familiar with its various elements, including the duration of certification, licensing requirements, and the examination. Start the process by (1) establishing a login on the ABPN Web site and (2) reviewing the MOC program booklet.
Related Resources
• ABPN MOC home page. www.abpn.com/moc.html
• ABPN-approved products for SA, CME, and PIP modules. www.abpn.com/moc_products.asp
• Peer and patient feedback forms– Peer feedback form v1. www.abpn.com/downloads/moc/PIP-peer-feedback-v1-051914.pdf
– Patient feedback form v1. www.abpn.com/downloads/moc/PIP-patient-feedback-v1-051914.pdf
– Patient feedback form v2. www.abpn.com/downloads/moc/PIP-patient-feedback-v2-051914.pdf
• ABPN physician folio page. https://application.abpn.com/webclient/folios.aspx
Disclosure
Dr. Meyer reports no financial relationships with any company whose products are mentioned in this article or with manufacturers of competing products.
