Maintenance of Certification (MOC)

Earn 20 Performance Improvement (PI) MOC Points While You Use Athreon’s Speech to Text Services!

Why MOC Matters

In addition to continuing medical education (CME) credits, board-certified doctors must also accumulate maintenance of certification (MOC) points to recertify or maintain their certification. While there are many CME opportunities for physicians, there are few opportunities to receive MOC while also completing regular work responsibilities, especially when it comes to performance improvement or PI CME, which typically requires physicians to initiate and complete their own quality improvement (QI) project. As a result, Athreon’s PI MOC program, approved by both the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), is a unique opportunity for physicians in any of the internal medicine specialties or in family medicine to meet a demanding requirement while also benefiting from Athreon’s virtual scribe and medical transcription services.

Successful completion of this activity enables the participant to earn 20 Practice Assessment points [and patient safety MOC credit] in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the sponsor’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ABIM for the purpose of granting the MOC points.

PI MOC Program Overview

Our physician-led PI MOC program collects data from visits recorded during patient encounters or from dictated narratives and EHR analysis. Our analysis of the audio files helps physicians improve attention to contextual factors while also earning credit toward their recertification. A contextual factor is a psychosocial factor in a patient’s life that is relevant to their care.

Physicians who pick up on contextual factors deliver better care at a lower cost because they make care plans that their patients can follow. This highly innovative board recertification MOC-approved program helps clinicians and practices address social factors related to patient care.

In a study published in JAMA Network Open, the program was shown to improve health care outcomes and reduce health care costs. It is available as an add-on service to Athreon’s AxiScribe virtual scribing solution and for clients subscribing to Athreon’s medical transcription services.

This activity has been approved by the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) for Family Medicine Certification credit. Term of approval is for two years, beginning 01/19/2021.

Qualifying Specialties

Adolescent Medicine
Hospital Medicine
Adult Congenital Heart Disease
Infectious Disease
Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology
Internal Medicine
Allergy and Immunology
Interventional Cardiology
Cardiovascular Disease
Medical Oncology
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
Nephrology
Critical Care Medicine
Pulmonary Disease
Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
Rheumatology
Gastroenterology
Sleep Medicine
Geriatric Medicine
Sports Medicine
Hematology
Transplant Hepatology
Hospice and Palliative Medicine

How It Works

PI MOC, required by both the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), provides an opportunity for physicians to improve the quality of care in their practices through a three-phase cycle of (a) identifying an improvement opportunity (with baseline collection of data), (b) implementing a change to how they practice, and (c) measuring the impact of the change (with post-intervention data collection).

Most PI MOC requires considerable data collection by physicians, which can be time-consuming and costly. However, when Athreon collects recorded data from your practice through its speech-to-text services, it’s never been simpler or more cost-effective to collect and analyze your data.

The Process & Timeline

Once you opt-in, our physician-led team gets started:

STEP 1 – Collection & Analysis.We analyze a small number of audio-recorded visits for opportunities to address psychosocial (“contextual”) factors. Contextual factors often account for missed appointments, medication non-adherence, frequent ER visits, or difficulty managing a chronic condition. We prioritize visits in which patients appear to be struggling. The process is evidence-based and peer-reviewed.

STEP 2 – Findings & Recommendations. We combine the data from participating physicians in your practice and remove their personal identifiers. Our physicians generate a slide deck with examples of both contextualized care and potential missed opportunities to address patient context. We send the slide deck to participating physicians to review, along with a brief exercise for them to indicate how changes in their practice could improve contextualized care.

STEP 3 – Comparing Results. We analyze a second round of visits, and we share the data in a similar fashion. This helps you see whether the changes you made had a beneficial effect. It also enables you to consider additional changes to how you and your colleagues practice.
Once you complete the 3-step cycle, typically over 6-8 weeks, our physician team registers your MOC credits directly with your Board (ABIM or ABFM). You subsequently see the credits appear in your online account.

Value of the Program

This physician-led program has proven effective as published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals. As circulated in JAMA Network Open, the program reduced hospital admission rates generating $25M in savings across practices participating with a return on investment of 75:1. And because it’s never been easier for physicians to participate in the PI MOC program via Athreon’s technology, physicians and practices benefit without disrupting the flow of their practice.

Learn More

We invite you to contact us to learn more or enroll in our unique program to improve your practice, earn essential credits toward your board recertification, and reduce patient care costs.

Request a free consultation now!

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