ABIM and ACCME Expand Collaboration to Increase Continuing Education Opportunities for Physicians

Philadelphia and Chicago, August 29, 2016 – The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) announce an improved web-based tool–CME Finder–that is searchable and sortable.

This improved tool provides the following information for each accredited continuing medical education (CME) activity that is registered for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credit:

Activity provider

Activity type

End date

Whether or not there is a fee for participation

Whether registration is open or restricted to a specific group

Data verifying that physicians have completed the activity will continue to be transferred to ABIM through ACCME's Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) and physicians will not have to take any additional steps to record MOC activities.

The CME Finder builds on the successful collaboration ABIM and ACCME announced in 2015, which has allowed physicians to access more than 3,000 accredited CME activities for ABIM MOC points, including grand rounds, conferences, case discussions, online courses and medical journals.

"Thousands of physicians are benefiting from our continued collaboration with ACCME that recognizes activities they are already doing. To date, physicians have earned about three million MOC points in accredited CME activities," said Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO of ABIM. "We are expanding our collaboration to encourage CME providers to continue to innovate and create educational activities that blend medical knowledge and practice assessment opportunities, which allows us to seamlessly recognize a physician's journey through self-directed learning."

ABIM and ACCME also announced today that by spring 2017, they will continue to expand their collaboration and plan to recognize more accredited CME. In addition to Medical Knowledge activities, physicians will be able to earn MOC points for Practice Assessment activities and blended activities that earn both Medical Knowledge and Practice Assessment MOC points.

"We celebrate the expansion of our collaboration with ABIM, because it will generate many more opportunities for accredited CME providers to support physicians by delivering relevant, effective, independent, practice-based education that counts for MOC," said Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO, ACCME. "In its first year, our collaboration has succeeded in making a real and meaningful difference to physicians and educators who are working every day to improve health care in their communities. I look forward to building on that success and continuing to work together with ABIM, accredited CME providers, and physicians to leverage the power of education to drive quality in our medical profession and improve care for the patients we serve."

Although ABIM has extended the decision not to require Practice Assessment in its MOC program through December 31, 2018, physicians can still earn MOC points for completing approved Practice Assessment activities. As ABIM updates its MOC program based on physician input, ABIM and ACCME will continue to identify emerging opportunities to streamline and diversify lifelong learning activities that generate MOC credit.

About ABIM
For 80 years, certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 20 subspecialties and has meant that internists have demonstrated-to their peers and to the public-that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. ABIM is not a membership society, but a non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public. ABIM is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties. For additional updates, follow ABIM on Facebook and Twitter.

About ACCME
The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) is a non-profit organization based in Chicago that is responsible for accrediting institutions that offer continuing medical education (CME) through a voluntary, self-regulatory system. The ACCME also has a system for recognizing state medical societies as accreditors for local organizations offering CME.

The ACCME's mission is to identify, develop and promote standards for quality CME that improve health care for patients and their communities. There are nearly 1,900 accredited CME providers within the ACCME System that offer more than 148,000 activities each year, comprising more than one million hours of instruction and including nearly 26 million interactions with physicians and other health care professionals.

The ACCME's member organizations-which represent the profession of medicine and include physician licensing and credentialing bodies-are the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Association for Hospital Medical Education, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and the Federation of State Medical Boards of the US, Inc.

For more information, visit www.accme.org.