Education roundup By James B. Spies, MD, MPH, FSIR, and David Laszakovits, MBA
ABR announces changes to continuous certification
that works to ensure its diplomates stay up to date on knowledge and skills relating to their field of practice. Just as medicine is constantly evolving, so is continuous certification, with the goal of making the process as robust and meaningful as possible without being burdensome on diplomates. With that in mind, beginning in 2023, the ABR is no longer requiring self-assessment CME (SA-CME) for those meeting the annual progress requirement in Online Longitudinal Assessment (OLA).
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Parts of the continuing certification process The maintenance of certification process contains four parts:
1. Professionalism and professional standing
2. Lifelong learning and self-assessment
3. Assessment of knowledge, judgment and skills
4. Improvement in medical practice
Part 1 requires valid, unrestricted licensure in all states of practice. Part 2 requires diplomates to complete CME credits which, before the change in requirements went into effect in 2023, were to be one-third self-assessment. Part 3 is fulfilled with OLA completion or passing a traditional exam every five years. Part 4 of the MOC process requires quality improvement projects, but it can now be satisfied through regular, ongoing quality improvement activities within a person’s practice.
8 IRQ | WINTER 2023
Changes to Part 3 Years ago, the ABR began developing a new Part 3 assessment in response to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) prompting for innovation in diplomate assessment. We were an early adopter of a more longitudinal assessment approach for continuous certification. OLA has proved to be an effective tool to assess our diplomates’ knowledge on a more regular basis in addition to its enhanced formative features.
OLA replaced the previous 10-year exam, a summative assessment tool that was only offered at our testing centers in Tucson or Chicago. Recognizing that the exam took time away from diplomates’ practices and families and was an
additional expense led us to transition to an online format.
When we launched OLA nearly four years ago, we suspected it would be a useful tool for self-assessment but did not yet have the data to confirm that assumption. Because OLA provides diplomates with immediate feedback, a rationale and at least one reference after the question is answered, we felt that this was a valuable self-assessment tool and, thus, completing SA-CME in addition was duplicative.
The benefits of OLA participation To fulfill Part 3 requirements, most OLA participants are required to answer 52 questions each year, the equivalent of one question per week. We provide two question
ince 2007, the American Board of Radiology (ABR) has used a four-part maintenance of certification (MOC) process
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