Are You Participating in MOC?

Increasingly, the ABNM is being asked by state medical licensing boards, credentialing committees and payers if individual diplomates are participating MOC. The ABNM expects that all diplomates will be continuously involved in the MOC process. Each diplomate has annual milestones and should work at steady rate toward the fulfillment of all of the MOC requirements. The ABNM has objective criteria to determine each diplomate’s MOC status based on the cumulative milestones they have met, allowing a 3‐year grace period. For example, any diplomate who is more than 3 years behind in payment of their annual MOC fee will no longer be classified as participating in MOC. Additional criteria, organized by the pertinent parts of MOC, are summarized in the table below.

Requirement Not participating in MOC
Annual MOC Fee
 Payment Annually Nonpayment ≥ 3 Year
Part I‐Professional Standing
Update/Confirm Contact Information
Annually – More frequently if needed No Updates/Confirmation in 3 years
Update/Confirm Practice Profile Annually No Updates/Confirmation in 3 years.
Update/Confirm Unrestricted Medical Licenses Annually No Updates/Confirmation in 3 years.
Part II‐Lifelong Learning and Self‐Assessment
CME and SAM requirements Annual goals 3 or more years behind
Part III‐Cognitive Expertise
MOC Examination Every 10 Years Not passed the MOC exam by the time required.
Part IV‐Practice Performance Assessment (PPA)
Participation in one or more PPA projects One activity per year 3 or more years behind

In order to take the MOC examination, diplomates will have to be up‐to‐date on all MOC requirements. The dates when diplomates with lifetime certificates are required to take the MOC examination and details of the CME and SAM requirements can be found in the ABNM MOC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) brochure. Details of the annual milestones for Part IV‐Practice Performance Assessment can also be found in an issue of the ABNM newsletter on the ABNM website http://www.abnm.org/docs/Winter_2008_tracer.pdf.