ABIM's ongoing collaboration with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) has resulted in thousands of activities that allow physicians to easily earn both Maintenance of Certification (MOC) points and Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits – and over the past several years ABIM has seen a marked decline in utilization of our remaining Medical Knowledge modules.
We have therefore made the decision to retire the Medical Knowledge modules after the release of the 2022-2023 modules. The key dates of our retirement timeline are below:
1/1/22: Modules for Internal Medicine and Hospital Medicine were released
6/30/23: Final day physicians can order the modules from their Physician Portal
9/30/23: Final day physicians can complete and submit the modules for MOC points and CME credits for the 2022-2023 modules.
Objective of Annual Updates
These activities are intended to support you in staying current with changing knowledge and practice within your discipline.
They address recent advances in medical knowledge that have impacted “best practices” regarding diagnoses, treatments and other aspects of patient management; some questions may also address important clinical management principles that, even though they have not recently changed, should be reinforced in the practice community.
How Annual Updates Compare to the ABIM MOC Assessments
These “open book” activities are intended to encourage self-directed learning. In contrast, the ABIM MOC assessments are summative assessments of essential knowledge, diagnostic reasoning and clinical judgment that spans the content of the discipline. The ABIM Annual Update activities do not comprehensively address the content covered in the assessments. The activities are written by a committee of ABIM Board Certified content experts, separate and distinct from the committee that writes the ABIM assessments.
As self-assessments that address timely information, Annual Update questions may be more challenging to answer correctly than exam questions. To accommodate ongoing changes in medical knowledge and practice, ABIM releases Annual Updates each year.
Your feedback is encouraged to assist the Self-Assessment Committees in maintaining the quality and relevance of these activities. Please send your comments to MedicalKnowledge@abim.org.
Claiming CME Credit for Annual Updates
The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania provides AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for completion of most ABIM Medical Knowledge activities. To receive CME, just answer and submit the online survey that appears when you have successfully completed the activity. Indicate the number of AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ you are claiming from the maximum allowed, as outlined below. Only ABIM products are eligible for CME credit through this program.
The Perelman School of Medicine designates each of these enduring materials for a maximum of 10 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
ABIM encourages you to claim your CME credit as soon as you successfully complete a Medical Knowledge activity. For products in which you do not claim credit immediately upon completion, a link to the online survey will remain in your Physician Portal on the My Activities page. You must claim CME credit before the posted CME credit expiration date that appears in each activity. Sign in to view your individualized CME report that summarizes the ABIM activities for which you have claimed CME credit.
Live Group Learning Sessions
ABIM collaborates with medical societies, hospitals, health systems and medical groups to offer opportunities for you to earn medical knowledge points by completing ABIM Medical Knowledge activities in a virtual or in-person group setting. As Learning Sessions are not affiliated with ABIM, the hosting organization may charge a fee to attend.
To participate and earn credit for a Learning Session offered by your organization:
- Register with the hosting organization before requesting the activity, as space may be limited.
- Sign in to your Physician Portal to order the activity.
- Attend the Learning Session.
- Sign in to your Physician Portal and complete the activity by submitting your answers to ABIM for scoring, CME credit and MOC points. If you claimed CME credit from the Learning Session host, you should not claim CME from ABIM for the same activity.