The American Board of Medical Specialties Announces New Standards for Continuing Certification

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Board of Directors has passed new Standards for Continuing Certification. The new standards — approved at the board's October meeting — will offer additional assessment options, extra flexibility with Maintenance of Certification (MOC) mandates and real-time learning opportunities via the Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment launching in 2022. According to an American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) blog post, "The new ABMS Standards that may be of greatest interest to — and were perhaps most shaped by comments from — the internal medicine community likely focus on Improving Health and Health Care, often referred to as 'Part 4.'" The entry notes that a requirement for individual diplomates to demonstrate engagement in quality improvement activities is not part of the new standards, preferring to recognize and reward those who do so. "This means that ABIM's current MOC program is in alignment with the new ABMS standards, and no ABIM programmatic changes will be necessary," according to the post.