American Board of Certification in Medical Optometry

Maintenance of Certification (MOC)

MOC – Program Requirements
MOC – Update Your Info/Records

Questions? Comments? More Info?

When to Enroll in MOC

Optometrists certified in the Specialty of Medical Optometry have two years after initial certification to enroll in the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. This is required to maintain Active status for certification and is reported to Credentialing Committees (Employers) when Primary Source Verification (PSV) of specialty certification is requested. See Verification of Certification (VOC) for more information.

Newly certified specialists may request a fee waiver for their initial enrollment period by contacting ABCMO (info@abcmo.org) during that two year period.

When to Update MOC

To make record-keeping and compliance easy, you will update your MOC information at the same time you renew your state license – this will be every 1-3 years depending on state regulations. ABCMO will sync your MOC expiration/renewal with your O.D. license expiration/renewal at the time of your initial enrollment.

Exceptions: If you maintain your license in MN, WA or WV you may sync your MOC renewal date with your CE renewal date instead of your OD license renewal date as those states have a “split” calendar and the CE renewal cycle is longer.

Requirement 1: Active State License

ABCMO requires your state license to practice optometry be current and active.

Requirement 2: Continuing Education (CE) in Medical Optometry

  1. ABCMO requires you take all state-mandated (non-elective) courses for license renewal even if they are unrelated to Medical Optometry
  2. ABCMO requires you fill all remaining (elective) CE hours with any of the following:
    • COPE Accredited Category B & C Courses in Medical Optometry
    • State License of Record Approved CE in Medical Optometry
    • Optometry School Approved CE in Medical Optometry
    • Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit acceptable to the American Board of Ophthalmology. This must be AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ obtained from Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)-Approved Organizations

For more information please review the full COPE Course Qualification Manual (December 2022, Pages 42-46) or the abbreviated COPE Categories PDF (December 2022). Category B and C (designated by the following two letter codes) address topics relevant to Medical Optometry.

COPE Category B: Glaucoma (GL), Injection Skills (IS), Laser Procedures (LP), Peri-Operative Management of Ophthalmic Surgery (PO), Surgery Procedures (Optometric) (SP), and Treatment & Management of Ocular Disease (TD).

COPE Category C: Neuro-Optometry (NO), Pharmacology (PH), and Systemic/Ocular Disease (SD).

Important: COPE combined the codes below into the codes above. However, you can still use the older codes for MOC CE through 2025. These include: Refractive Surgery Management (RS), Treatment & Management of Ocular Disease: Anterior Segment (AS), Treatment & Management of Ocular Disease: Posterior Segment (PS), Oral Pharmaceuticals (OP), and Principles of Diagnosis (PD).

Requirement 3: National Practitioner Data Bank Self-Query

ABCMO requires a self-query from the National Practitioner Data Bank and a written explanation for any adverse action reports in the last 4 years.

Requirement 4: Attestation, Authorization and Audits

ABCMO requires you attest to the veracity of all information submitted and grant ABCMO authorization to make any inquires needed to verify it. Further, ABCMO requires you maintain a copy of all information submitted online – this can be audited by ABCMO at any time and for any reason upon notification.

Requirement 5: MOC Program Fee

The MOC program fee is $50 per year and paid based on your MOC renewal cycle of 1-3 years.

More Information

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please email them to info@abcmo.org

Learn more about the factors leading to enhanced programs to ensure Maintenance of Certification (MOC) of physician specialists

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If you maintain your license in MN, WA or WV you may sync your MOC renewal date with your CE renewal date instead of your OD license renewal date as those states have a “split” calendar and the CE renewal cycle is longer.
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