At a more granular level, Dr. Wellikson envisions a “suite of products” to assist members in the MOC process. “What we are trying to do is develop resources that help people practice better medicine,” he says, “and while we are helping you practice better medicine, you can also use that to prove to [ABIM] that you have done it.
“So if you log onto the website today and downloaded and completed any of those SHM resource rooms, somewhere in the next several months you will be able to click on a form, enter the results, send it to ABIM, and you’ll have satisfied a PIM,” Dr. Wellikson says. “You can do the work today.”
SHM’s Project BOOST (Better Outcomes for Older Adults through Safer Transitions) and Glycemic Control Mentored Implementation programs are prime candidates for Web-based PIMs, according to Dr. Holmboe.
“I think it is still very early, but we are very excited about this,” Dr. Parekh says. “I think a lot of people still have questions about what exactly this mean to me, and why should I recertify through this focused practice as opposed to the traditional general pathway? We hope to change that by making the resources focused to their practice.” TH
Jason Carris is editor of The Hospitalist.
Hospitalists as Test Subjects
Seeing as how the focused-practice pathway for hospitalists is a first of its kind for physician credentialing boards, the ABIM is planning a “fairly significant” research effort tracking participants’ experience, Dr. Holmboe says.
“We’re also going to spend time talking with credentialists and other stakeholders about what value they potentially see having someone participate in this focused-practice pathway,” he says. “The more folks that can do this in the first one or two years, the better, because it will give us an opportunity to learn if the approach makes sense and is providing value to the diplomates, as well as the other stakeholders, such as the hospitals and credentialing agencies.”
Dr. Holmboe also expects ABIM to explore ways to assess teamwork skills in the hospital setting. ABIM is shooting for a mid- to late-summer launch of beta testing, and hospitalists who participate in the pilot program will receive MOC credit.
“It’s an area that, when we were developing the program, came out repeatedly from the leadership of the community—how important teamwork is for this discipline,” he says.
In all, ABIM and hospitalists are blazing new trails in certification testing and fulfillment.
“It’s fair to say the HM community is pioneer in this concept of continuous maintenance of certification, or, if you want to say, maintenance of competence,” Dr. Holmboe says. “That was an initial part of the conversation five years ago. They have really set the table. What we learn from this group will help inform the MOC program.”—JC