American Board of Certification in Medical Optometry

Maintenance of Certification (MOC)

MOC – Program Requirements
MOC – Update Your Info/Records

Questions? Comments? More Info?

MOC Program Requirements

Introduction

As an O.D. board certified by ABCMO you are required to maintain your state license of record which is on file with your credentialing committee if you are on the staff of a federal medical facility. Your state license of record will require that a minimum number of CE hours be taken in the past 1-3 years, depending upon how often your license is renewed. If your state license of record requires that a certain number of CE hours be taken in specific CE courses not relevant to medical optometry you must take those courses first but then fill all remaining CE hours needed for license renewal by taking COPE-ARBO accredited CE courses relevant to medical optometry to maintain your ABCMO board certification as a specialist in medical optometry.

When to Begin

State license renewals are every 1-3 years and the date for beginning to participate in MOC is the expiration date of your current license of record.

Because licenses usually expire at the end of a calendar year, your starting MOC will probably be January 2021 or January 2022. ABCMO already requires holding the highest level of licensure available in your state license of record.

States may require specified and mandatory CE hours be taken and those CE hours, added to COPE accredited and approved CE hours (B and C categories) must equal the number of CE hours required for license renewal. MOC requires only COPE accredited CE hours (B and C categories) but additional CE hours may be taken voluntarily.

Step by Step

  1. Fill the number of CE course hours required for your state license renewals with COPE-ARBO accredited CE hours relevant to Medical Optometry, except for any specific hours of named CE courses that may be required by your state board from time to time.
  2. Having maintained your license, send to ABCMO your COPE-ARBO list accredited CE courses you attended during the renewal cycle to show you are meeting (1).
  3. Send ABCMO any adverse report(s) against you in the current National Practitioners Databank (NPDB).
  4. Authorize ABCMO to make any necessary inquiries to confirm the information above.
  5. Pay the ABCMO Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program fee ($45 or $90 or $135) according to your license renewal schedule.

Important Notes

You have until your first state license renewal deadline after January 1, 2021 to enroll in the MOC Program. Failure to enroll at that time can result in loss of certification.

Rather than observe the expiration dates on past certifications and require retaking of the NBEO ACMO written examination the board believes this revised MOC program will be a far more effective, convenient and less costly way to maintain your competence and certification as a specialist in Medical Optometry.

  1. Until July 1, 2022, ABCMO certified ODs are urged to attend COPE accredited courses relevant to Medical Optometry that are sufficient to meet their required minimum number of hours for license renewals. While other CE courses may be taken they do not count towards meeting the ABCMO requirements for MOC.
  2. After July 1, 2022, ABCMO certified ODs are required to attend COPE accredited courses in Medical Optometry selected from COPE-ARBO Categories B (Ocular Disease) and C (Related Systemic Disease) to meet their required CE hours for license renewals and to submit their MOC fees and their COPE attendance records courses to ABCMO.

For more information please review the COPE Course Qualification Manual (Pages 42-44)

COPE Approved/Accredited courses have 2 letter abbreviations. Full descriptions are in the manual linked above.

Category B: Glaucoma (GL), Injection Skills (IS), Laser Procedures (LP), Peri-Operative Management of Ophthalmic Surgery (PO), Refractive Surgery Management (RS), Surgery Procedures (Optometric) (SP), Treatment & Management of Ocular Disease: Anterior Segment (AS), and Treatment & Management of Ocular Disease: Posterior Segment (PS).

Category C: Neuro-Optometry (NO), Oral Pharmaceuticals (OP), Pharmacology (PH), Principles of Diagnosis (PD), and Systemic/Ocular Disease (SD).

This MOC program will:

  1. Better ensure competence in medical optometry is retained and updated following initial certification.
  2. Allow ABCMO to maintain a database or list of those certified in the specialty of medical optometry that is updated coincident with the each specialist’s renewal of their “state license of record” to practice optometry.
  3. Provide ABCMO with up-to-date information needed to respond to Verification of Certification requests by Credentialing Committees and Employers.

Article 19 of the ABCMO Bylaws details the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Program and provides an example.

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

Sign up or Update Your MOC Info/Records

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If your license of record is in MN or WA you may sync MOC updates with state CE renewal instead of license renewal. For the next two questions fill in CE renewal dates instead of OD license renewal dates. If you have any questions please email info@abcmo.org
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