Maintenance of Certification - New Data, New Questions

Physicians generally recognize the need for maintenance of certification (MOC), but recent changes in American Board of Internal Medicine MOC requirements have led some to question whether the process is relevant to contemporary clinical practice or meaningful as a measure of physician and healthcare quality. To date, disagreements about MOC have been based more on principle than evidence. But two recent landmark research articles in JAMA have shed light on the relationship between MOC and measures relevant to patients and physicians. We invite you to listen as JAMA editors, authors, and distinguished panelists discuss what these new data might mean for patients and physicians, the professionalism and health care quality movements, and the debate over whether it’s possible to identify the ‘good’ physician.