Organizations that offer accessible and self-paced continuing medical education (CME) activities provide a lot of benefits for physicians with busy schedules. However, completing CME credits to renew their license isn’t the only thing many physicians need to worry about. They may also have specialty certifications that they need to renew.
Many specialty certifications for physicians involve maintenance plans where they need to complete a certain number of maintenance of certification points over a designated timeframe. Fortunately, those requirements can often be satisfied while completing specialty CME courses and activities as long as CME providers ensure they get accredited for both.
How does the process work to align CME with maintenance plans for specialty certifications?
What Does MOC Mean in CME?
The acronym MOC stands for Maintenance of Certification. Physicians certified in a specialty will need to complete specific MOC requirements over a designated timeframe to maintain their certification.
Those regulations are put in place by certifying boards to ensure practicing physicians maintain their competency and stay current in the latest research, treatment methods, and technology to provide the best possible patient care.
What Are Maintenance of Certification Points?
MOC points are credits earned as physicians complete accredited MOC activities for their specialty. Certifying boards will establish a certain number of MOC points that physicians need to complete before they can renew their certificate.
The most common requirement for specialty certifications is 100 MOC points over 5 years. Typically, one MOC point equals about one hour of learning activities/training, so physicians will want to participate in an average of about 20 hours of MOC activities each year.
Does MOC Count for CME?
Yes, many MOC activities will count for CME credits and vice versa. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) states that CME providers can add value to their program by offering CME activities that also qualify for MOC.
Educational providers will have to report to the ACCME that their course and activities satisfy the requirements for both. This is typically done using the ACCME PARS tracking system.
A well-rounded healthcare LMS can help with that process by allowing CME providers to create effective courses and activities and by automatically reporting learner completion data to major accrediting bodies and tracking systems.
Why Do Accredited CME Providers Need To Align With MOC Requirements?
CME providers should align courses and activities with MOC requirements because it makes it more efficient for physicians to renew their medical license and specialty certifications.
Physicians have busy schedules that they need to manage, which is why it’s important that continuing education courses are offered in an accessible format that makes it easy for professionals to learn at their own pace.
Now, add the fact that physicians need to complete a certain number of CME credits to renew their medical license and a designated amount of MOC requirements to renew their certification for a specialty, and it can feel like a lot to take on.
Therefore, anything you can do to reduce the amount of work for physicians to recertify will be a bonus. It can help set your organization apart or help you compete with other CME providers when physicians are searching for accredited CME and MOC options.
How Do You Register CME Activities for MOC?
As mentioned earlier, organizations will want to use the ACCME PARS reporting system to register CME activities for MOC. When you’re filling out the registration information for activities, there will be a section to check “Yes” that your activity meets MOC requirements as well.
You will then be asked to complete MOC-related questions and attest that your activity meets all established requirements. After everything is verified, the ACCME will ask that you submit learner completion data for all CME and MOC activities within 30 days of activity completion.
Continuously trying to keep track of and report that data manually would be challenging for most medical associations and organizations. That’s why having an LMS that automates that process is really beneficial.
When you use our EthosCE LMS at Cadmium, it will allow you to automatically report learner completion data to the ACCME and other major credit tracking systems like JA PARS, CE Broker, and CPE Monitor. You will also be able to track and manage learner completion data through an organized dashboard and send reminders to learners when important renewal dates are approaching.
What Are the Two Ways You Can Maintain Your CME Certificate?
Typically, the two ways physicians can renew licenses or specialty certifications are by completing educational activities that qualify for CME credits or MOC points or by taking a recertification exam.
Taking a strict exam can feel stressful for many people and requires dedicating a lot of time to studying, so it’s common for professionals to opt for self-paced activities that qualify for CME and MOC instead. Organizations that offer accessible online educational options are providing a great service to help with this.
What Board-Specific Requirements Should You Know?
Each board that provides specialty certifications can have unique requirements for renewal. One of the main board-specific things you need to be aware of is the timeframe for renewal and the amount of MOC points or CME credits you need to complete.
For example, the American Board of Internal Medicine requires that certified professionals complete 100 MOC points every 5 years. Alternatively, the American Board of Allergy and Immunology requires completing 25 CME credits per year.
Boards may also have other requirements, like specific patient safety modules professionals need to complete, participating in quality improvement projects, or completing self-assessment programs.
CME and MOC providers need to review board-specific requirements thoroughly when creating continuing education activities to ensure they comply with regulations and update activities whenever regulations change. Having an LMS that makes it easy to manage and update educational content will help.
How Can EthosCE Simplify CME for MOC Management?
Cadmium’s leading healthcare LMS, EthosCE, simplifies how organizations manage courses for CME and MOC. Some of the top features you get with EthosCE include:
- Automatic reporting to accrediting bodies and credit tracking systems like the ACCME, JA PARS, CE Broker, or CPE Monitor
- Organized dashboards for data and analytics
- The ability to create a searchable and scalable course library
- Easy course editing and updating options
- Option to set up automatic reminders for learners
- Content creation opportunities in many different formats
- Ability to add interactive activities for learner engagement
- Integration with our Eventscribe event management system to combine live events with online courses
- And more
EthosCE creates a well-rounded continuing education system so you can benefit healthcare professionals wherever they are in their careers.
Want to see how EthosCE can make a difference for you? Click here to learn more.
