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The Vision Commission, ABMS Implementation Plans, and the ABPMR MOC Program

Last month, the Continuing Board Certification: Vision for the Future Commission (“Vision Commission”), a group of external stakeholders tasked by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) with reimagining continuing certification, released its final report with 14 recommendations. The recommendations include one foundational recommendation, 10 short term and intermediate recommendations, and three aspirational recommendations around continuing certification. For more details, download the full report here.

Last week, the ABMS announced its plans to implement recommendations from the Vision Commission, including establishing an oversight committee, creating collaborative task forces, directing the implementation of longitudinal assessment or other formative assessment among all 24 ABMS Member Boards, developing new continuing certification program standards by 2020, and engaging specialty societies and other partners to build a roadmap for advancing clinical practice. Read about these, and ABMS’s response to the report, in their news release here.

“At the ABPMR, we were pleased to see that many of the Vision Commission’s recommendations aligned with innovations we have already set in motion, including our longitudinal assessment pilot using CertLink,” says Carolyn Kinney MD, ABPMR executive director. “We will continue with these efforts and look forward to working with ABMS to implement the Commission’s recommendations.”

Dr. Kinney noted ABMS plans to develop new continuing certification program standards as a key example.

“The current Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Standards were issued by ABMS in 2015,” she says. “The ABPMR has been committed to upholding those standards, and now we have the opportunity to help craft a new iteration with input from the field, our specialty society partners, and as always, with a focus on our mission to protect the public.”

We’ll keep you updated as we monitor and participate in the implementation of the Vision Commission’s recommendations.