ABIM To Diplomates: Merry Christmas! Participate in MOC or Else

This weekend, I received this orange notice from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in the mail:

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At first I was going to ignore this flier, since I am board certified until 2023 in Cardiology and 2024 in Cardiac Electrophysiology.

But then I read the reverse side of the flier, and noticed this threatening sentence:

"Your deadline is approaching, so we wanted to follow-up on the email reminders we've sent to you about earning 100 MOC points by 12/31/2018 to stay certified." (emphasis mine)

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It appears the ABIM will revoke the "time-limited" certification(s) I have paid for through 2023 in Cardiovascular Diseases and through 2024 in Cardiac Electrophysiology because I have refused to earn 100 Maintenance of Certification® (MOC®) points by 12/31/2018.

Must diplomates who have "pre-paid" for their certifications now ALSO have to participate in MOC just to maintain their pre-paid certificates?

I certainly hope not. If so, things could get ugly very quickly for everyone involved.

-Wes

Ending MOC Nationwide

Continuing education for physicians is important (and we've been doing it all our lives on our own), but when working physicians' right to care for their patients is threatened by unaccountable non-profit testing organizations that have serious undisclosed conflicts of interest, we will take action.

 -Wes



P.S.: Patients, doctors: want to help? You can still donate.