This post was authored by  Richard J. Baron, MD, president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine

It was a great privilege for me to attend some of ACC 2014. I was able to meet with ACC leadership, including your Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, and I was able to meet with a number of members at an open session on the new American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) MOC program. As the new CEO at ABIM (I was in community practice of primary care internal medicine and geriatrics for almost 30 years; I left practice 3 years ago to work at the Innovation Center at CMS, then I came to ABIM in June), it is incredibly informative and helpful for me to come to this meeting.

First, it is inspiring.  To see cardiologists from all over the world coming together to learn from each other and improve their skills makes me proud to be an internist and demonstrates the best of our profession.  Medicine is changing all the time, new knowledge, new skills, and the ACC does a spectacular job bringing together the community of cardiologists in a fertile and productive way.

Second, it gives me a chance to explain our new program. I heard echoes of a presentation ACC Trustee Dr. Harlan Krumholtz had given Thursday about ABIM. I was fortunate this morning to have shared a podium with Henry Ting, MD, FACC, and Bill Little, MD, FACC, the chair of ABIM’s Cardiovascular Disease Board. In a morning session about the changes to the MOC program I was able to remind attendees of where ABIM came from:  we were created by joint action of the ACP and the AMA in 1936, to recognize and “create” the specialty of internal medicine, distinguishing ourselves from other doctors who might have claimed expertise they did not have. Cardiology was the first sub-specialty recognized by ABIM in 1941. And today we still create a framework through which doctors can communicate to their patients, colleagues, health care institutions and the interested public that they are keeping up in a professionally defined way. Since most of you work in a world full of other board-certified cardiologists, you don’t see the credential as a distinction. But not everyone maintains your level of engagement and currency with the changes in medicine, and all of us have an interest in making that distinction clear.

Third, it allows me to hear directly from practicing cardiologists what they think of ABIM and MOC. No surprise:  recent changes have generated some anger and frustration, and have risked linking the Board with the government and “all the other things making doctors’ lives miserable.”  I heard those concerns loud and clear, and did what I could to remind folks that “them is us,” that the board is composed of “real doctors,” leading to a standard setting process that is much closer to our needs and expectations than one that government, for example, might create.  I heard questions about our finances (go to abim.org/finances to see where the money comes from and where it goes); I heard concerns that our programs are not as meaningful as they could be, and I had an opportunity to explain how our new governance (which involves leading physicians of diverse skill sets) will respond over time to those concerns.

At the same time there is a lot of misinformation out there. No, ABIM does not want MOC required for Maintenance of Licensure (MOL). We would like, however, for MOC to count in full for any new MOL requirements developed.  Five states already exempt physicians from having to submit CME for licensure if they are participating in MOC. That is progress in reducing redundancy for physicians.

At this time of so much change in medicine, the boards offer us a way to distinguish ourselves as the kind of professionals who constantly grow, change and acquire new knowledge. I come away from the meeting convinced that the spirit of continuous learning is alive and well at ACC and excited about partnering with ACC to make the ABIM stronger and more relevant to ACC members. Also, if you have questions about the new requirements, we have staff at the MOC lounge.

Note: Learn more about ABIM’s MOC program at CardioSource.org/MOC.

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