MOC in the spotlight (again)

This week, physicians voted during the AMA Annual Meeting to continue investigating maintenance of certification (MOC), osteopathic continuous certification (OCC), and maintenance of licensure (MOL)—including assessing the impact of MOC on physician practices, AMA reported. The association’s House of Delegates adopted a policy that directs the AMA to work with the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and member boards to collect data on why physicians choose to maintain or discontinue their board certification. The policy also calls for the AMA to oppose making MOC mandatory as a condition of licensure.

The MOC and licensure requirements aren’t new, nor is the opposition to them: One responder on the AMA website report branded MOC “a fiasco for 40 years.” As the ABMS and boards collect their data on physicians, will other organizations gather information on MOC, OCC, and MOL in the credentialing process? If these programs were discontinued, would that make an MSP’s credentialing tasks easier, or just add another layer of information fragmentation? Drop me a line—I’d like to know what you think.

And as always, thanks for reading!

Mary Stevens, editor, Credentialing Resource Center Insider