ABPMR vs AOBPMR Certification

[Prof Moriarty]

With the ABPMR appearing to jump on board with all the MOC/MOL nonsense, I am considering certification through the AOBPMR instead. Can anyone comment on pros/cons of these organizations?

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[Prof Moriarty]

 

[castalmond]

are there any physician unions? moc is a huge scam from what i hear... there's currently a lawsuit filed by aaps, but even that will take several years to conclude

 

[glacier azul]

With the ABPMR appearing to jump on board with all the MOC/MOL nonsense, I am considering certification through the AOBPMR instead. Can anyone comment on pros/cons of these organizations?

yes i would interested in others who have considered this route. What their experience is with exam style, study materials, maintenance of board etc in comparison to ABPMR.

 

[DannMann99]

I'll warn you now, this is all information surmised and collected from a PGYIII. This info may be incorrect but I grabbed almost all of it off of the ABPMR and AOCPMR websites.

So I've been looking into this and crunching some numbers. I'll post what I've come up with.
For licensing
DO | MD
Exam Cost: $1000 | $1400
Exam Questions: 100 (4hours) | 325 (3hours x2)
Oral Exam: 3 Parts @ 45min each | 3 Parts @ 40min each
Oral Cost: $1000 (unsure) | $1900
MOC: Yes q 10 years | Yes q 10 years
MOC Cost: $500 | 800$

Some other costs:
You need to maintain AOA membership to maintain AOA license at 600$/yr
You need to pay for all the different parts of AOA MOC which equate to $1200 per MOC period (9 years)
This brings AOA to $6400 per MOC period (9 years) plus the cost of MOC exam bringing your total to $6900

ABPMR apparently charges you about 200$ per year for MOC stuff (as far as I know), and you don't need to maintain professional organization membership to maintain license. That brings you to about $1800 per 9 year period, plus $800 for MOC exam for a total of $2600

For what it's worth the AOA MOC seems less of a pain in the ass, but pain in the ass none-the-less.

 

[Prof Moriarty]

For what it's worth the AOA MOC seems less of a pain in the ass, but pain in the ass none-the-less.

Yeah it's all a PITA. But I've spoken with several practicing physicians who have chosen the AOBPMR route, or did both and plan to just maintain the AOBPMR.

AOBPMR is definitely cheaper and more convenient up front. I think the cost is $1000 total which includes both exams. You can take both written and oral exams in the same weekend at the same location if you want: Part I offered in conjunction with the AOCPMR mid-year conference; Parts I and II offered in conjunction with the OMED convention. Because they're offered at conferences, they're usually somewhere reasonable and easy to get to (i.e., not Rochester, Minn). Additionally the AOCPMR looks pretty cool, with a lot of great MSK-oriented CME courses.

It would be a slam dunk if they got rid of the oral boards. I think it's an unnecessary component and should be discontinued, as other boards have done (eg- Neurology). It is bad enough that both boards still require the oral exam, but I find it ludicrous and unjustifiable that the ABPMR thinks it is acceptable to have everyone fly to Rochester, MN for this outdated test and this is practically a deal-breaker in and of itself.

MOC in general is a scam/money-grab and there is currently huge push back underway in many specialties, especially against the ABIM. It appears to me that the ABPMR jumped on the MOC bandwagon and is planning a more onerous MOC process than the AOBPMR (they call it OCC) but time will tell. Ten-year re-certification and MOC are relatively new developments, have no evidence to support their use, and are not practiced in Europe and elsewhere. Physicians already exhibit lifelong learning in useful, realistic, and practice-specific ways through CME and other endeavors. If you're up for re-cert, I would strongly consider checking out the newly-formed National Board of Physicians and Surgeons.

But I digress...

 

[clubdeac]

Has there been any more talk about this ****? I know last year the IM docs boycotted and got their annual fees dropped as well as the requirement for their practice performance project. My dad told me he doesn't have to deal with any of this crap. I thought we were working on doing the same in PMR? We need to stop this soon. Seriously

 

[BikeWrench]

With the ABPMR appearing to jump on board with all the MOC/MOL nonsense, I am considering certification through the AOBPMR instead. Can anyone comment on pros/cons of these organizations?

Has there been any more talk about this ****? I know last year the IM docs boycotted and got their annual fees dropped as well as the requirement for their practice performance project. My dad told me he doesn't have to deal with any of this crap. I thought we were working on doing the same in PMR? We need to stop this soon. Seriously

FYI,
The membership of AOA has been decoupled from board Certification andMOC (OOC)is also being released. So the costs are significantly cheaper now for the osteopathic boards.
JTS

 

[scifiMD]

Maybe a little off topic but JAMA just published a "Research Letter" in the latest issue giving a break down of board costs and board profits vs expenditures for all the ABMS specialties - I would give exact figures but that journal is sitting at home or in my car right now - PM&R is not the MOST ripped off, but it seems like we're not one of the lower cost ones either