The American Board of Pathology (ABP), along with the other 23 members of the
American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), has committed to participating in
a Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. This program is designed to assist
physicians in maintaining standards necessary for them to provide quality care in their
chosen specialties throughout their careers.
MOC is a continuous process that begins immediately after board certification.
It uses the six areas of competency adopted by the Accreditation Council for
Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the ABMS to ensure that all aspects of
practice are evaluated and outcomes are measured. The six areas of competency
are patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement,
interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based
practice. ABMS has taken these six competencies and developed a four-part MOC
program. These are designated as Part I Professional Standing; Part II Lifelong
Learning and Self-Assessment; Part III Cognitive Expertise; and Part IV
Evaluation of Performance in Practice.
As of January 1, 2006, all primary and subspecialty certificates issued by the
ABP are time-limited and expire on December 31 ten years after they are issued.
The MOC process must be completed no later than ten years after a certificate
(primary, subspecialty, or MOC) is awarded and may be completed as early as the
eighth year. Regardless of the date at which the process is actually completed, the
anniversary dates for recertification will be derived from the initial
certification date in the primary specialty. For example, a diplomate who is
initially certified in 2006 and completes all MOC requirements in 2014 will be
issued a new certificate in 2016. That certificate will then expire in 2026.
Certain parts of the MOC process have deadlines that must be met at specific
times during the ten-year cycle. Failure to meet such a deadline will result in a
period of probation followed by potential loss of certification if the problem
is not corrected.
The ABP recognizes that pathology practice is very diverse and that after a
period of time a diplomate who was initially certified in anatomic and clinical
pathology may find his/her practice limited to one of these areas. In this case,
the diplomate may choose to maintain certification in either anatomic pathology
or clinical pathology or both. Similarly, a diplomate who holds a subspecialty
certificate and whose practice is confined entirely to that subspecialty may
choose to maintain certification in the subspecialty only, in the subspecialty
and the primary discipline with which it is associated, or in the subspecialty
and both primary disciplines.
Diplomates who hold both primary and subspecialty time-limited certificates and
wish to maintain certification in both will be given the option to complete MOC
in subspecialties at the same time as MOC in the primary specialty. In this
case, the anniversary date for both certificates will be that of the primary
certificate.
Diplomates of the ABP are required to accurately state their certification
status in curriculum vitae, publications, directories, letterheads, etc. A
diplomate whose certificate has expired must not claim to be board certified,
and all descriptions of certification status must be modified accordingly. If an
individual represents that he/she is certified by the ABP when such is not the
case, the ABP will notify appropriate authorities, including but not limited to
credentialing agencies, licensing boards, and law enforcement agencies.