GI Societies Share Consensus Principles with ABIM on Changes to MOC

Issue: January 2016

A group of gastroenterology and hepatology societies, including AGA, ACG, ASGE, AASLD, ANMS and NASPGHAN, have developed consensus principles on reforming the maintenance of certification process for gastroenterologists, which they shared in a letter to the president of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

This follows the AGA’s proposal to the ABIM in August that an alternative pathway to recertification, called The Gastroenterologist: Accountable Professionalism in Practice, or G-APP, should replace the high-stakes testing of the current MOC process with “active, adaptive, self-directed learning modules that allow for continuous feedback,” according to a press release.

“Maintaining certification should be a process of active learning, not high-stakes testing,” Michael Camilleri, MD, AGAF, president of the AGA Institute, said in the press release.

Michael Camilleri

Stephen B. Hanauer

The consensus principles summarized in the letter call for a “simpler, less intrusive and less expensive” MOC process, and ending the high-stakes 10-year exam and out-of-date closed-book assessments. They also support lifelong learning and ongoing CME activities vs. lifelong testing, as well as the idea that high-stakes testing in specialty areas in which physicians do not practice are unnecessary.

These points echo the recent call-to-action made by the ACG outgoing president, Stephen B. Hanauer, MD, FACG, at the Annual Scientific Meeting in October.

“We believe alternative models that rely on oversight of CME providers and tracking of participation could provide a reasonable alternative pathway that would better meet the needs of clinicians,” he said during his presentation.

Each society will submit more detailed feedback to ABIM individually, according to the letter.

References:

http://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085%2815%2901177-4/pdf

http://www.gastro.org/Nov15_ABIM_letter_from_GI_Societies.pdf