Understanding Your Specialty Board's MOC Program
The American Board of Medical Specialties’ (ABMS) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program—now known as Continuing Certification (CC)—encourages ongoing professional growth through continuous learning, self-assessment, and quality improvement. While ABMS defines four core components, individual specialty boards may use slightly different terminology or structures. Each component helps you stay compliant with board requirements, enhances your skills, and improves the quality of your practice.
Understanding the components and requirements of your specialty board allows you to plan ahead and stay up to date in maintaining your certification. By viewing these requirements as an opportunity for professional development rather than a burden, you can strengthen your skills, enhance your clinical expertise and improve patient outcomes.
Component 1: Professionalism and Standing
To legally practice in the United States, you must hold a valid, unrestricted medical license. If you practice exclusively outside of the United States, its territories, or Canada, licensure requirements vary by board. Some boards require U.S. or Canadian licensure even when practicing abroad, while others accept local licensure with appropriate documentation.
The board must be immediately notified if there are any status changes or if disciplinary or other restrictions are placed on your license. If your license becomes invalid or restricted, the board may revoke your certificate until your license is reinstated or restrictions are lifted.
Component 2: Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment (CME)
To maintain certification, you must continuously update your medical knowledge and skills through activities such as Continuing Medical Education (CME), self-assessment, and practice improvement. accumulated over multi-year cycles. A certain number of these credits must be approved self-assessment activities that test your knowledge and clinical skills. Some requirements may be waived or modified for fellows or recent graduates who are still in training.
You can earn CME credits through activities such as peer-reviewed journals, online courses, podcasts and in-person conferences. Many CME providers, such as Oakstone, may report these credits to certain boards, while others may require manual entry through your board’s portal.
Component 3: Assessment of Knowledge, Judgment and Skills
Historically, physicians were required to complete a high-stakes recertification exam every 10 years to maintain certification. Today, many boards are moving away from this model in favor of longitudinal assessment programs. Programs like ABIM’s Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA) or ABEM’s MyEmCert allow you to demonstrate your knowledge by answering a set number of questions on a routine basis. Some boards still require a traditional exam or offer it as an alternative to longitudinal assessment.
This shift reduces the pressure of a single high-stakes exam and encourages ongoing learning. Boards set minimum passing standards for each assessment and may impose time limits for each segment. If your initial attempt isn’t successful, some boards offer a grace period or retake option.
Using board-provided sample questions and practice modules can help you prepare and test your knowledge before each assessment. Specialty society study guides, review courses and online question banks also offer helpful resources to reinforce understanding and improve your performance.
Component 4: Improvement in Medical Practice (QI)
Quality Improvement (QI), also known as Performance in Practice (PIP), demonstrates a physician’s commitment to continuous improvement in patient care. These projects involve activities such as practice audits, process improvements and participation in clinical data registries that improve patient care, safety and clinical processes.
You can also fulfill your QI requirement by joining quality improvement programs within your hospital or health system. These initiatives allow you to contribute to practice improvements without starting a project from scratch, making it easier to complete QI in your everyday workflow. Other simplified pathways, like the ABMS Portfolio Program, allow you to meet requirements by documenting quality improvement activities you do on a daily basis.
Navigating the Board Portal
You can find all the information you need about your MOC requirements through your specialty board’s portal. By signing in to your personalized dashboard, you can view your certification status, completed CME credits, upcoming requirements, fee schedules, and deadlines.
When you check your status, you’ll see indicators such as active participation or certification standing, depending on your board’s terminology. Regardless of your status, most boards require annual or recurring fees to maintain enrollment and certification.
Stay On Track with Your MOC Requirements
Keeping MOC requirements top of mind helps you stay on track and avoid missed deadlines or additional fees. Regularly check your portal to review your upcoming or completed requirements and make an action plan to complete each component on time. Listing annual or exam fee deadlines in your calendar also helps you pay ahead of time to avoid late fees.
Oakstone’s CME activities offer a convenient way to earn high-quality, board-approved credits that count toward your MOC requirements. Pick your specialtyand start exploring your options today to get ahead and stay on track with your certification goals.