The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) offers a flexible and transparent fee structure for maintaining your certification. Here’s what you need to know:
- Annual MOC Fee:
- $220 per year for the first certificate
- $120 per year for each additional certificate
- Payment is due by January 1 each year; a $40 fee if paid after the year in which it was due
- Access to the Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA®) is included at no additional cost for each certificate you are paying to maintain
- Discounts:
- Pay a year early to receive a 5% discount on all annual fees (by December 31 of the preceding year).
- Pre-pay up to 9 years in advance by December 31 of the preceding year
- Test Center Fee (Traditional, 10-Year MOC Exam):
- $700 when you register (in addition to the annual MOC fee)
- Exceptions & Discounts:
- Test Center Fee waived for Transplant Hepatology, Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology, as no LKA is offered
- A 50% discount ($350) on the first retake after failing the same exam. Full price applies to subsequent retakes
- International Test Takers:
- An additional $500 International Test Center Fee applies, waived for active military members
- For the first certificate you're maintaining
- Paid annually
- Includes LKA for that discipline
- 5% discount if paid prior to year it is due
- $40 fee if paid after the year in which it was due
- Paid annually and includes LKA for that discipline
- 5% discount if paid prior to year it is due
- $40 fee if paid after the year in which it was due
- Only for the traditional, 10-year MOC exam
- In addition to the annual MOC fee
- Taken in a test center and paid when you register
- Waived if the LKA is not developed in your specialty*
The fee goes toward creating assessments, processing your registration and MOC points, scoring assessments, producing score reports, ensuring the blueprints accurately reflect what’s important to know in the specialty, MOC reciprocity programs and more.
Keeping your fees current ensures you have:
- The ability to answer LKA questions (you will continue to have access to your LKA dashboard but cannot open the questions).
- Register for an MOC assessment.
- Process MOC credit for CME activites.
- Enroll in MOC reciprocity program.
Don’t want to maintain one or more of your certificates? No problem. Simply inform ABIM by submitting a request to deactivate your certificate(s). The deadline to deactivate a certificate in the current calendar year is March 31. Any certificates not deactivated by the deadline will be assessed the annual MOC fee. To deactivate a certificate, please complete and submit the Deactivate/Reactivate Form, which may be found under the My Assessments & Certifications section of your Physician Portal.
Supporting more than 200,000 doctors through their careers
The fees you pay ABIM help you, and physicians like you, directly by supporting enhancements and innovations in assessment options, such as the LKA, MOC activities and CME credit, and a personalized online experience. It also provides you, your peers and your patients with confidence that you are keeping your medical knowledge current.
FAQs
When do I pay my annual MOC fee?
You can pay the annual MOC fees during the calendar year in which they’re due, before they’re due or after they’re due. The annual fee for the first certificate you maintain is $220. For each additional certificate you maintain you’ll pay $120 per year, and access to the LKA will be included as well. An additional $40 will be added to the certificate fee if it is paid after the year in which it was due.
If you choose to pre-pay, you will receive a 5% discount for each year paid (up to 9 years) before the year in which it is due.
For those choosing to take the traditional, 10-year MOC exam, there is a $700 test center fee due upon registration.
Your certification status will never change due to non-payment. However, you will not be able to access some of the services ABIM provides:
- The ability to answer LKA questions (you will continue to have access to your LKA dashboard but cannot open the questions).
- Registering for an MOC assessment.
- Processing MOC points for CME activities.
- Enrolling in the MOC reciprocity program.
What if I have an exam credit or pre-paid for 10 years?
For those with an exam credit from a KCI or 10-year exam, you will not be charged an additional fee for your first attempt on the 10-year exam if the exam fee has increased. The entire credit will be used to pay for the exam, and a zero balance will be left on your account.
If you've already pre-paid for 10 years, you will not need to pay until the 10 years pass. For example, if you pre-paid your program fee for 10 years in 2015, you will not have to pay an annual MOC fee before 1/1/2025.
Why is there a test center fee?
The test center fee helps offset costs incurred for securing your seat at the Pearson VUE test center, as well as delivery of the exam itself.
The LKA is included in your annual MOC fee. If the LKA is not available in your discipline you will not be required to pay the test center fee.
Can I pay for future years in advance?
Yes. You will receive a 5% discount on any certificate you pay in advance. You can pre-pay up to 9 years beginning on December 1, the year before the certificate fee is due.
Do I need to pay the annual MOC fee if I was certified prior to 1990?
If you earned your initial certification before 1990 you will need to pay the annual MOC fee if you’d like to participate in an ABIM assessment for that area. If you choose not to, you will see a balance due on your account, which will be forgiven at the end of the year. You will not lose certification based upon non-payment.
Will those newly certified and eligible fellows still receive an MOC fee waiver?
Yes, those who are newly certified in internal medicine and those enrolled in an eligible fellowship program will receive an MOC fee waiver that is automatically applied.
How does the fellowship fee waiver work?
ABIM recognizes fellowship training as an important part of lifelong learning and continuous professional development.
For each year that a physician successfully completes accredited* fellowship training in an ABIM subspecialty, they earn 20 MOC points. Annual MOC fees are waived for any year during which a physician is in accredited fellowship training in an ABIM subspecialty.
Unaccredited training or training in a non-ABIM subspecialty does not qualify. Please contact your program director to verify if your training is accredited.
*Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), or training completed in Canada that has been accredited by either the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the Collège des médecins du Québec.
How are my fees used?
All of ABIM’s operations are funded by physicians. Your fees support a number of essential ABIM services, including:
- Development of innovative assessments like the LKA
- Partnerships with societies in qualifying and expanding appropriate activities for MOC
- Processing MOC points for eligible CME activities
- Attestation processing
- Licensure verification
- Physician portal with access to personalized ABIM status report
- Publicly reporting certification status of more than 200,000 physicians
- Developing and distributing reminders from ABIM about your MOC program requirements
- Helping provide fee waivers to physicians in fellowship
- Providing all newly certified internists with a one-year MOC program fee waiver