MOC Points: The New Physician Currency

"Oh my God, I can't believe how complicated the American Board of Medical Specialties and the American Board of Internal Medicine has made this whole Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process!"

"Yeah, pretty amazing, isn't it?  10 points here, 10 points there, 20 points for a (required) Practice Improvement Module, then another 10 points if you complete another module online.  And after all that, you're only half way there!"

"Where am I going to find the time?  They need to make this process easier!"

"Face it. That isn't going to happen.  Look at the ineffectual ideas the member board members are telling the ABIM  leadership in their precious '3-5 minutes' of feedback: making sure physicians can get 'credit' for patient surveys and quality assurance projects they already do, making the ABIM website 'easier-to-navigate,' making patient surveys 'more flexible,' lowering costs, and 'providing more transparency from ABIM on how requirements are created.'  I'm not seeing any cuts to any of this, I'm just seeing different versions of the same old same-old."

"Dude, you just completed your MOC process, how did you do it?"

"I'll tell you a secret, but you have to promise TOTAL secrecy."

"I promise!  I'll do ANYTHING to get this MOC monkey off my back!"

"Okay, here's what you do.  Remember that research project you wanted to do on kids but never could get off the ground because the IRB stonewalled you, claiming  lack of consent in minors and all that red tape regarding research in minors?"

"Yeah."

"Well, just call your work a 'quality assurance project' you have to do for your MOC points!  No one would dare question your intent, after all, it's to improve quality care and patient safety!"

"I can't do that."

"Sure you can!  No one dares question the lofty ideals of the ABMS/ABIM's MOC program.  After all, they interconnected with the ACGME, the Joint Commission, American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association,  the whole works!  You just do your thing and no one will think anything of it except 'you're the MAN!'  I mean these MOC points are our new hall pass to do anything you like on people in the name of quality of care!  It just has to sound reasonable.  And man, you need those points, don't you?  You'd be killing two birds with one stone and potentially get a publication out of it to boot!  Better yet, you can claim "no conflicts of interest" because you never receive a dime for your efforts.  Your IRB will never look, trust me.   Paraphrasing a former famous politician: 'I've got this MOC thing, and it's f*%^in' golden!"

"I see.  And if we do it your way, we can even get paid more, thanks to that CMS incentive they've created!"

"Now you're catchin' on.  It's our new currency.  I'm telling you, it's f*%^in' golden!"

-Wes

h/t: IP4PI blog