12 Jun Physician MOC Status Linked To Better Diabetes Performance Measure

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Bradley Gray, PhD
Senior Health Services Researcher
American Board of Internal Medicine

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: This study is part of an ongoing effort to improve and validate ABIM’s MOC process through the use of real data that is ongoing here at ABIM.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? 

Response: The paper examines the association between MOC status and a set of HEDIS process quality measures for internists twenty years past the time they initially certified. An example of one HEDIS performance measure we looked at was percentage of patients with diabetes that had twice annual HbA1c testing. The key findings of the paper are that physicians who maintained their certification had better scores on 5 of 6 HEDIS performance measures than similar physicians who did not maintain their certification.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: This paper builds on a body of research that indicates that physicians who continue to maintain their certification throughout their career provide better care quality than those that do not. For example, another recently published study reports that maintaining certification is also associated with reduced disciplinary actions. 

The study also has relevance for patient in search of a new physicians. These patients often go to websites to help inform their choice of a new physician and yet website rating of physicians have been shown to be poor predictors of physician quality. Yet these websites also list MOC status which has been shown to be a predictor of care quality based on this and other studies. 

Citation:

Associations Between American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification Status and Performance on a Set of Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set Process Measures
Bradley Gray, PhD; Jonathan Vandergrift, MS; Bruce Landon, MD, MBA; James Reschovsky, PhD; Rebecca Lipner, PhD
Published: Ann Intern Med. 2018.
DOI: 10.7326/M16-2643 

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Last Updated on June 12, 2018 by Marie Benz MD FAAD