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Attending: Valerie Smothers, MedBiquitous; James Fiore, ABS; Annette Gippe, AOA; Purvi Maniar, Brenda Ruff, and Mike Coyne, ABMS.
Overview
Valerie began the call asking the group “What questions do we want the data to answer?”.
Annette replied that the data will be used for credentialing. For Osteopathic physicians, people using the data will want to know if a physician is currently participating in Osteopathic Continuous Certification (OCC) and if they are in good standing. If a physician drops out of OCC, their status will be in jeopardy. It will be difficult to know if a doctor is certified or not.
Brenda asked if osteopathic certificates will continue to have an expiration date under OCC. Annette replied they would. If someone drops out, they will no longer be in good standing, and their status will be changed to reflect that.
Brenda reported the process at ABMS is similar. If someone drops out of MoC, the certification status will change from active to something else.
Certification Reverification
James commented that the biggest issue he has with the proposed changes are with the proposed certificationreverificationdate. If you are telling people to check back on a certain date to make sure the data is still correct, the verification is expiring.
Brenda replied that was added primarily for those moc records where it is a time limited certificate but there is no specific end date. The date provides credentialers a date to reverify credentials.
Mike further explained that the American Board of Pediatrics has continuous certification with no end date. The reverification date was a solution to the problem they posed. The ABP updates the statis of diplomates at the beginning of the year, so Feb 15 is the recommended time to check if the physician is maintaining his or her certification.
Annette expressed concern that different boards would have different reverification dates, making the credentialing agency’s work more difficult. And each reverification requires a payment, so there are cost implications. She added that they would not use the element in osteopathic medicine.
James commented that something similar to DANS was necessary, a way of alerting credentialing agencies of changes in certification status rather than requiring reverification.
Valerie recommended coming back to this issue at another time. She encouraged the group to think of alternate language that may be clearer.
Brenda commented that they are reviewing and getting feedback from credentialers. Their pilot completes in May 2011.
James questioned whether needs based on a pilot should be incorporated into the standard. Valerie commented that the standard is iterative and that the pilot would be complete before the next version of the standard is finalized. Implementing iterative versions of the standard is acceptable.
Brenda commented that other boards would need the reverification date for the same reason that pediatrics needs it.
Dropouts in Good Standing?
Valerie questioned if once a physician enrolls in MOC, can they unenroll, i.e. drop out of MOC but maintain valid certification?
Annette replied that in OCC they could maintain a valid certification if they had a lifetime certification. If they have a time limited certification, they cannot drop out of OCC and maintain a valid certification.
Brenda replied that in the ABMS, it varies from board to board. A physician could drop out and then catch up before the expiration date. In that case, the certification would be unaffected. In pediatrics, if they don’t stay current, their certificate is marked as expired. The physician’s certification status would change as well.
Certification Occurrence
Valerie asked if there would be instances where a physician enrolls in MOC but still has a certification occurrence of initial or recertification (perhaps the physician has enrolled but not yet completed any requirements). Brenda replied Yes, the physician could have an MoC record for an initial certification. Purvi agreed that initial and recertification were still valid values for certification occurrence. They do not use the Maintenance of Certification value for that element. Valerie proposed deleting that value if it was not in use.
Certification Duration
Valerie asked if it was correct to say that MOC participants can have either time-limited, lifetime, or MOC certification duration? If so, what is the definition of MOC certification duration?
James replied that in surgery diplomates would have certification duration of time-limited and MOC or lifetime and MOC.
Annette commented that everyone with a time limited certificate would be enrolled in OCC. In this case, recertification and initial would only be used for historical purposes.
Valerie commented that the term MOC excluded physicians participating in OCC and potentially other health professions evolving continuous certification programs. She asked of the ABMS would be willing to talk with their member boards and consider changing the value of this field to Continuous during a review of the pilot.
Purvi replied that they need the MoC value for their pilot. They are currently transmitting data with this value.
Valerie asked at what point the ABMS would review the results of the pilot and make changes. Brenda indicated that the ABMS will have quarterly reviews and opportunities to update the working group on things that they encounter working with their stakeholders.
James suggested that these discussions could have taken place prior to beginning the pilot with pediatrics.
Valerie suggested contacting ABP and ABIM in the interim to get their feedback.
Annette agreed to keep the group informed of changes related to OCC.
Summary:
- The group will continue to review the name of the proposed certificationreverificationdate element.
- The Maintenance of certification value of Certification Occurrence can be deleted.
- ABMS will not be able to provide feedback on the proposed changes until the completion of their pilot, May 2011.
- Valerie will contact ABIM and ABP to see if she can obtain feedback from them in the interim.