Maintenance of Certification: Update on Attitudes of Members of the American Society of Neuroradiology

A Practice Quality Improvement Project: Reducing Dose of Routine Chest CT Imaging in a Busy Clinical Practice

“…The establishment of a clear, concise, and easily measurable PQI system will help radiologists effectively meet the part IV requirement of MOC. Practice quality improvement endeavors can be time consuming, and surveys among radiologists have demonstrated mixed opinions on the subject [28]. However, MOC demonstrates dedication to the delivery of high quality health care for patients.…”

Identification of Alternative Physician Assistant Recertification Models: An Analysis of the Landscape and Evidence Surrounding Approaches to Recertification in the Health Professions

“…Conversely, barriers or reasons for not participating were time, expense, lack of support for participation, absence of employer requirements or monetary benefit of participation, and skepticism regarding relevance or benefit to patient care. [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58] While burden and expense were commonly cited barriers, only one study concretely assessed this. A Markov-model analysis of the 2015 ABIM MOC cycle revealed that associated costs represented less than 1 percent of a typical physician's salary but in aggregate summed to $5.7 billion over ten years across all participating internal medicine physicians and subspecialists, with $5.1 billion attributable to 32.7 million physician hours spent on MOC requirements and $561 million in direct exam expenses.…”

“…88 Surveys of pediatricians and neuroradiologists revealed greater confusion about requirements, greater burden related to activities, and lower impact ratings for practice improvement (Part IV) requirements compared to self-assessment (Part II) MOC requirements. 58,89 Most family physicians, internists, and dermatologists participating in web-based practice improvement (Part IV) modules rated them as relevant to their clinical practice and likely to either change or reaffirm their clinical practice. [90][91][92] Findings with regard to specific activities for practice improvement (Part IV) MOC credit were mixed: family physicians participating in modules collaboratively with facilitation via coaches valued this support and reported increased self-rated competence in QI and confidence to undertake another QI project; 93 radiation oncologists participating in an online safety module rated it easy to use but not likely to enhance practice; 94 and anesthesiologists participating in simulation activities for credit found them relevant and likely to change practice; [95][96][97] but, anesthesiologists participating in a pilot or patient and peer review activities found them burdensome and providing limited actionable information.…”

Quantitative Evaluation of Performance in Interventional Neuroradiology: An Integrated Curriculum Featuring Theoretical and Practical Challenges

“…These structured assessment programs aim to stop the decline over time in a physician’s knowledge and skills as well as to improve care, to continuously reduce risk, to increase patients’ safety, and to provide better cost-benefit ratios. [ 1 – 3 ] While the aims and concepts of these programs are widely supported, the current approaches to achieve these goals are still a matter of debate. [ 2 – 4 ] In a highly specialized discipline like Interventional Neuroradiology (INR), the assessment of key competencies and procedural skills is challenging.…”

“…Those opposed to the MOC program in its current form doubt that the performance on a written examination suffices as an adequate surrogate marker for overall competence in INR. [ 3 ] The ongoing development of endovascular procedural simulation applying either virtual reality (VR) or silicone vessel reproductions currently allows assessing reproducible measures of human performance in neuroendovascular procedures in an objective, quantitative, and constructive way. [ 5 – 9 ] Exploiting these possibilities of simulators, we sought to develop an integrated curriculum in order a) to assess key INR competencies and b) to analyze the associations between the practical experience, theoretical knowledge, and the skills lab performance of interventionalists.…”