Developed by the ABMS and the Member Boards, including the American Board of Plastic Surgery, the Maintenance of Certification® requirement is a response to the rapid pace of research and technological changes in the medical field and the drive toward improving the overall care and safety of patients. Maintenance of Certification® in Plastic Surgery (MOC-PS®) involves continuous professional development to measure a physician’s continued competency in his or her certified specialty and/or subspecialty.
On behalf of the Society, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is proud to be part of this program. As of January 2008, MOC-PS CME articles have been available online through the Journal’s website www.PRSJournal.com; learning modules are available through the ASPS online education website, Plastic Surgery Education Network. Visit PSEN’s MOC-PS Course center to take the MOC-PS tests.
The following information explains the difference between obtainable credit by taking the self-assessment tests after reading MOC and CME articles in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
1) Credit for taking MOC article online tests
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery's MOC articles all have multiple-choice question tests which can be taken online for two types of credit which are automatically reported to ASPS and added to your CME and MOC credit totals.
The first type of credit you can receive is a CME category 1 credit. Diplomates need at least 60 hours of CME category 1 credit by years 3, 6, and 9 of the 10-year MOC cycle. Documentation of CME credit is uploaded to the ABPS Website through the Professional Standing Update.
The second type of credit is an MOC credit after completing the Practice Assessment in Plastic Surgery (PA-PS) module, which is also required in years 3, 6, and 9 of the 10-year cycle. To fulfill this requirement of MOC by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, you must first complete a 10 consecutive patient data entry process through the ABPS website in the practice assessment module of the procedure of your choice. In addition to entering the case data of 10 patients for the selected procedure, blepharoplasty for example, you then have to complete one of the two possible following educational activities: (1) Review of the MOC-PS Evidence-Based Approach to Blepharoplasty article published in the Journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, or (2) complete an ABPS-approved MOC-specific educational program in blepharoplasty sponsored by a specialty society. The MOC articles published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery satisfy the first of these two activities. The activity must be aligned with the selected procedure.
By May 2014, twenty new Evidence-Based medicine MOC articles and tests will have been added to the MOC collection and the PSEN Course Center. These new MOC articles apply evidence-based medicine methodology to provide you with the best evidence on twenty core areas of plastic and reconstructive surgery. There are also in-depth discussions of the multiple choice questions and answers, which offer valuable insight as to why each answer is correct.
2) Credit for taking CME articles online tests
Monthly CME articles published in the Journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery also have multiple-choice question tests which can be taken online at the PSEN portal. This activity is also automatically reported to ASPS and added to your CME credit totals. However, the only type of credit you can receive for completing this educational activity is a CME category 1 credit, of which you need 60 hours in years 3, 6, and 9 of the 10-year cycle. These CME articles will NOT satisfy the MOC requirement of an educational activity to accompany the Practice Assessment in Plastic Surgery modules that you complete for your 10 consecutive patients for your selected procedure on the ABPS website in years 3, 6, and 9 of the 10-year cycle.
CMEs published more than three years ago cannot be taken for credit but are suitable for use as study guides.
MOC articles require a charge of $100 per test for ASPS members and $150 for non-members.
