Editor's note: For the latest news on coronavirus disease 2019, visit https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/01/28/coronavirus.
The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) is helping pediatricians meet board certification requirements and deadlines by awarding points for “advancing child health under extraordinary circumstances” in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June, the ABP will award Maintenance of Certification (MOC) points for COVID-19-related learning and improvement to all pediatricians maintaining certification. Pediatricians whose MOC cycle ends in 2020 will get enough points to satisfy their remaining requirements. Individuals whose cycle ends in 2020 and have already completed these requirements will receive the points toward their next cycle in January 2021. Pediatricians whose cycle ends after 2020 will get 25 Part 2 and 25 Part 4 points.
No documentation is necessary on the part of pediatricians.
The points, visible in each individual’s ABP Portfolio in early June, will be labeled “COVID-related learning” in the My Activities section.
Recognizing hardships
After physicians began seeing COVID-19 patients in their practices and hospital settings — and social distancing and shelter-in-place orders began to impact all aspects of society — the ABP decided to be proactive, said Keith J. Mann, M.D., M.Ed., FAAP, ABP vice president of continuing certification. It announced that no pediatrician would lose certification as a result of the pandemic.
“We recognized in early March that, if this continued, it was going to be really difficult for pediatricians to keep on top of all the work, document all of their learning and improvement effectively and in real time, and submit credit in a relatively short period of time, especially for those finishing cycles this year,” he said.
“We wanted to credit people for work that they are doing because people are learning and finding innovative ways to improve their practices in response to COVID-19,” he added.
Additional updates
For pediatricians whose MOC cycle ends in 2020, enrollment is open until Dec. 17.Individuals still need to log into the ABP Portfolio and enroll in the next cycle by this date.
Individuals scheduled to take a proctored exam in the U.S. or Canada should visit the testing services provider at www.prometric.com to confirm that testing sites are open and the date of the test is the same.
