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Surgery MOC Requirements and Courses

What are the American Board of Surgery MOC Requirements?

The American Board of Surgery (ABS) requires surgeons to earn at least 150 Category 1 CME credits every 5 years. At least 50 of these credits must come from a self-assessment, which the ABS describes as a “question-and-answer exercise that assesses your understanding of the material in the CME program”. In addition, you must also score a 75% on this self-assessment.

Once you pass your first new general surgery self-assessment, the requirement changes to 125 CME credits with no self-assessment required.

In addition to earning CME credits, physicians are required to pass the ABS recertification exam or the new assessment prior to their certification expires. The board released the new assessment for General Surgery in 2018 and will be releasing similar assessments for vascular surgery, pediatric surgery, and surgical critical care in 2019 to eventually replace the traditional recertification exam. Surgeons can still take the traditional exam in 2018 to maintain their certification, but they will also eventually have to begin the new assessment process by 2020.

Purpose of Surgery MOC

The ABS views maintenance of certification as a surgeon’s “ongoing commitment to professionalism, lifelong learning, and practice improvement following initial board certification”. The process is designed to ensure surgeons stay up to date with best practices in their primary area of focus. This will ideally help improve surgery success rates and overall patient satisfaction.

What is the American Board of Surgery MOC Exam Dates?

There are multiple dates Surgeons can take the new assessment or traditional MOC exam for general surgery. The exam dates and registration deadlines are outlined below.

General Surgery New Assessment

• Registration Deadline: Aug. 1 – Oct. 15, 2018
• Exam Dates: Sept. 7, 2018 – Nov. 5, 2018

General Surgery Recertification Exam

• Registration Deadline: Aug. 1 – Oct. 15, 2018
• Nov. 26 – Dec. 10, 2018

Click here to view exam dates and registration deadlines for the Vascular Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, Hand Surgery, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine recertification exams.

How to Successfully Complete the American Board of Surgery MOC Requirements

Many surgeons are increasingly turning to online surgery CME courses to meet their MOC requirements. More specifically, many surgeons look to use their CME allowance on CME gift card offers that offer enough CME credits to meet their annual requirements, help prepare for the MOC exams, and offer a free gift card. Two of the most popular options that fit these criteria are the BoardVItals Surgery CME Pro Plus Bundle and Oakstone’s General Surgery CME Online Bundle. Both of these programs offer a complimentary gift card and 60 and 45 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM respectively.

Check out the listings below for more information on these offers.