Maintenance of Certification for Psychiatry

Information for Applicants publications for maintenance of certification describe current requirements for maintaining certification in the specialties and subspecialties.

click here for 2008 Information for Applicants publications

click here for applications to 2008 MOC examinations

Please note that applications for MOC cognitive examinations are only available for a brief period of time in the year preceding the examination. Please see the examination schedule for application dates and deadlines.

For a brief description of the specialties for which the Board currently issues certificates please click on the specialty:
• Psychiatry

Introduction
The Maintenance of Certification Program (MOC) of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc., reflects the Board’s commitment to lifelong learning throughout one’s profession. The mission of the ABPN's Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Program is to advance the clinical practice of psychiatry and neurology by promoting the highest evidence-based guidelines and standards to ensure excellence in all areas of care and practice improvement. The MOC program requires diplomates to participate in sanctioned self-assessment performance measures, identify perceived weaknesses in their knowledge, pursue learning activities tailored to areas that need to be strengthened, and develop quality improvement programs based on their clinical practice. The goal is for diplomates to reflect on their personal knowledge and performance and commit to a process of improvement and reevaluation of performance measures over a specified time frame that will ultimately lead to improved care for their patients.

Diplomates are responsible for their own self-assessment, continuing education, and practice improvement plans, and they can choose the learning tools that will best address their perceived needs, expand their expertise, and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their practice.

As of October 1, 1994, all individuals achieving Board certification by the ABPN are issued 10-year, time-limited certificates. Certificates issued in the subspecialties of addiction psychiatry, clinical neurophysiology, forensic psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, hospice and palliative medicine, neurodevelopmental disabilities, neuromuscular medicine, pain medicine, psychosomatic medicine, sleep medicine, and vascular neurology, including those issued prior to October 1, 1994, are 10-year, time-limited certificates. Time-limited certificates for child and adolescent psychiatry began in 1995. All ABPN time-limited certificates, regardless of their exact dates of issuance, are considered to expire 10 years later on December 31.

Diplomates who are not recertified before their certificates expire are no longer Board certified in that area of certification. Once a former diplomate completes all MOC requirements and passes the MOC examination, however, he or she will regain certification status.

Physicians who are certified in both psychiatry and neurology and who desire to maintain their certificates in both disciplines must only meet the CME, Self-assessment, and PIP requirements for one specialty. However, they will be required to pass cognitive examinations in both psychiatry and neurology.

Diplomates with certificates in the subspecialties of addiction psychiatry, clinical neurophysiology, forensic psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, hospice and palliative medicine, neuromuscular medicine, pain medicine, psychosomatic medicine, sleep medicine, and vascular neurology must also maintain certification in their specialty in order to apply for recertification in the area of subspecialization. Diplomates in neurodevelopmental disabilities must maintain certification in neurology with special qualification in child neurology. If certification in the specialty lapses, certification in the subspecialty is no longer valid.

Diplomates in child and adolescent psychiatry do not need to maintain current certification in general psychiatry for their subspecialty certification to remain valid and to recertify in child and adolescent psychiatry.

There is no time limit on regaining certification status through recertification. It is the responsibility of diplomates to contact the Board office to request application materials for recertification.

The ABPN MOC Program rev. 02/24/08
As mandated by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the Board has developed a 10-year Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. The ABPN MOC program includes four components:
1. Professional Standing;
2. Self-Assessment and Lifelong Learning;
3. Cognitive Expertise;
4. Performance in Practice.

Record Keeping, Attestation, Multiple Certificates, and Auditing
Diplomates of the ABPN are required to maintain records of their self-assessment and CME activities, and PIP modules. Diplomates must provide their signature attesting to completion of the activities (as determined by the phase-in schedule) on their applications for the MOC examinations. The MOC Program will be fully operational in 2016 at which time attestation to all components will be required on applications for the MOC examinations.

Diplomates are responsible for choosing their self-assessment, lifelong learning, and practice improvement components. Completed activities can be applied to multiple certifications thus fulfilling MOC criteria for one or more specialty or subspecialty areas.

The ABPN will audit approximately five percent of the applications submitted for the cognitive examination. Candidates whose applications are audited will receive a letter detailing the documentation required as evidence of completion of stipulated components (professional standing, self-assessment program, CME activities, and Performance in Practice Units) as determined by the phase-in schedule. Failure to return this documentation may result in the denial of the application for the MOC cognitive examination.

A. Self-Assessment Program
Diplomates of the ABPN are required to participate in at least two major, broad-based self-assessment program during the ten-year MOC cycle. One SA activity must be completed in years 1-3 of the first 5-year block of the cycle, and one must be completed in years 6-8 of the second 5-year block of the cycle. The self-assessment activities must cover current knowledge and/or current best practices in one or more of the required competency areas in a single assessment or in the sum of several combined assessments, total at least 100 questions, and provide feedback to the diplomate that can be used as the subsequent basis for focused CME, lifelong learning and/or career development.

Examples of such broad-based self-assessment activities approved by the Board for this purpose include:

For Neurology
• Post-reading questions from Continuum
• Quintessentials® Program modules
• American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) Training Program Self-Assessment Examination
• American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Self-Assessment Examination

For Psychiatry
• The Psychiatrist in Practice Examination (PIPE)
• Focus annual self-assessment exam supplement
• APA Practice Guidelines Program

For Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• AACAP Module 1 Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Violence and Homicide (no longer available)
• AACAP Module 2 Eating Disorders, Feeding/Elimination Disorders, and Substance-related Disorders and Updates on Relevant Topics for Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists
• AACAP Module 3 Anxiety Disorders, Trauma (Non-Abuse/Neglect Related), Selective Mutism, and Updates on Relevant Topics for Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists
• AACAP Module 4 Schools, Forensics, Community Systems of Care, Consultative Issues, Ethics, Culture, Public Policy/Advocacy, and Updates on Relevant Topics for Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists

Go to the AACAP web site to order the CME Modules

The Board may approve additional self-assessment programs over time. Diplomates may request consideration of other practice-specific, self-assessment activities by submitting a detailed description of the activity to the Director of New Assessment Initiatives at the Board office. The ABPN reserves the right to approve or reject any course or guideline submitted for approval.

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B. Lifelong Learning (CME) Activities (effective 2007)
Diplomates of the ABPN are required to complete 150 specialty- or subspecialty-specific, Category 1, continuing medical education (CME) credits in each of the two 5-year blocks of the ten-year MOC cycle, for a total of 300 CME hours.

The Board will accept CME hours earned through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

3. Cognitive Expertise (effective 1994)

Diplomates of the ABPN fulfill the cognitive expertise component by passing a cognitive examination prior to the expiration date on their certificates. To sit for a cognitive examination, all current MOC requirements must be satisfied. A passing score on the cognitive examination extends the renewal date of the certificate to December 31, ten years from the year of the cognitive examination.

The cognitive examinations are multiple-choice, computer-based examinations that are administered by Pearson VUE at testing centers in over 200 locations throughout the country. MOC cognitive examinations differ from the initial certification examinations in that they are practice-relevant and focus on the clinical applications of knowledge.

To prepare for the MOC cognitive examinations, a diplomate should keep current with research and developments in the respective field, read specialty-specific journals and practice guidelines, and attend relevant continuing medical education programs.

4. Performance in Practice (effective 2013)

The Performance in Practice component is a quality improvement program designed to evaluate whether physicians have shown practice improvement over the 10-year MOC cycle by chart review and second-party external review. Diplomates will be required to complete three PIP Units consisting of both modules.

The criteria for PIP are distributed as follows:

• The first PIP Unit must be completed in years 1-3 of the 10-year cycle
• The second PIP Unit must be completed in years 4-6 of the 10-year cycle
• The third PIP Unit must be completed in years 7-9 of the 10-year cycle

A) Clinical Modules (Chart Review)

• PIP clinical modules must use data obtained from or pertinent to a diplomate’s personal clinical practice and must evaluate at least five patient cases in a specific category (e.g., diagnosis, type of treatment, treatment setting).
• Modules must compare data from the clinical cases to best practices and/or practice guidelines published in the literature.
• Modules must require the development of a plan by the diplomate to improve his/her performance.
• Modules must re-assess data from at least another five cases in the same category within 24 months similar to the original assessment.

B) Feedback Modules (Patient/Peer Review)

• PIP feedback modules must be based on feedback from at least five peers or five patients over the previous three years.
• Modules must provide performance feedback to the diplomate concerning improvement in the effectiveness and/or efficiency in his/her practice as it relates to the core competencies.
• Modules must present feedback from at least another five peers or five patients within 24 months similar to that provided in the original assessment.

Peer Feedback and Patient Feedback forms are available as options for PIP completion.

The ABPN has reviewed the NetOutcomes program and has approved this program as part of a comprehensive PIP Unit, which is mandated by the ABMS as a necessary component of MOC.

The American Board of Specialty Societies (ABMS) has issued new definitions of “Clinically Active” and “Clinically Inactive” and requires that all diplomates self-report their status once every 24 months in each area of certification. This information will be available to the public.

“Clinically Active”: Any amount of direct and/or consultative patient care that has been provided in the preceding 24 months.
“Clinically Inactive”: No direct and/or consultative patient care has been provided in the preceding 24 months.
“Clinical Activity Status is Unknown”: No status is reported by the diplomate.

A change in diplomate status from “Clinically Inactive” to “Clinically Active” requires the completion of at least one PIP Unit.

NOTE: All policies, components and requirements of the ABPN's MOC Program are subject to change. It is the responsibility of each individual ABPN Diplomate to remain apprised of the current applicable MOC Program. As such, Diplomates are encouraged to consult this web site regularly, to ascertain whether any changes have been made.

Click here for a printable document of the most current information regarding the ABPN Maintenance of Certification Program.

Click here for a printable MOC FAQ sheet.

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2150 E. Lake Cook Road, Suite 900, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
Phone: 847.229.6500 Fax: 847.229.6600

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