The Maintenance of Certification (MOC) concept originated with the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) in 1999 as a professional response to the need for public accountability and transparency of practice improvement initiatives by physicians.
The purpose of Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) is to assure the public that ABA diplomates:
All ABA diplomates may participate in MOCA.
Time-Limited Certification:
If you were certified in or after 2000, your certification is time-limited.
When you receive primary certification, you are automatically enrolled in the MOCA
program to allow you the full 10-year period
to meet all MOCA requirements.
Non-Time Limited Certification:
Diplomates certified before 2000 hold non-time-limited certificates and are encouraged to voluntarily
participate in MOCA. You may want or need to demonstrate your continuing qualifications now or in the
future, for example, to meet a state medical board's licensure requirements.
Time-Limited:
Diplomates certified in 2000 or later are automatically enrolled in the MOCA
program as soon as they receive primary certification. This allows them the full 10-year
period to meet all MOCA requirements. There is no enrollment fee.
Non-Time Limited:
You may enroll online through your personal portal account. There is no enrollment fee.
Currently, there is no application fee for MOCA. There is a fee for each examination opportunity. Please click here to view current examination fees.
If you paid an application fee at the time you registered in the MOCA program, $250 will be automatically credited toward your first MOCA examination fee.
Time-Limited:
Yes! Your certification will expire, and you will no longer be Board Certified (nor in the Examination System).
The ABA will reinstate your certified status when you complete all MOCA Program requirements.
Non-Time Limited:
No! If you were certified before 2000, the certificate the ABA issued to you is not time-limited
and does not have an expiration date. Participation in the MOCA program is voluntary and does not
jeopardize your status as an ABA diplomate. If, for any reason, you do not satisfy the MOCA program
requirements you will retain your status as an ABA diplomate because you hold a non-time limited certificate.
MOCA is designed to allow you to complete all program requirements by the end of the 10th year following your enrollment or application. The colored cells in the following timeline indicate when requirements are due during the 10 year cycle:
| Year in MOCA Program | ||||||||||
| Activity | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Part 1 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Part 2 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Part 3 | X | |||||||||
| Part 4 | X | X | ||||||||
| X | ||||||||||
If your requirements have not all been met at the end of 10 years, your ABA certification will expire. In order to regain your certification, the ABA will move your 10-year MOCA cycle forward one-year. Any activities completed in your original year 1 (like CME credits) will be removed and you will be required to redo those activities. Upon successful completion of the year 1 activities and any other activities you did not complete in the first 10 year cycle, the ABA will issue you a MOCA certificate valid for 10 years from the date of completion of the program. Please note that the ABA will move a MOCA cycle forward, one year at a time, for up to three years.
The certificate for Maintenance of Certification in the specialty of Anesthesiology will be valid for 10 years.
Since your certification is not time-limited, you have the option to complete MOCA on an expedited basis (from 2 to 9 years) the first time you participate in the program.
When you enroll in MOCA, you will choose the year in which you would like to complete the program, and your requirements will be adjusted to reflect the shortened timeframe.
If you choose to complete MOCA in 5 years or less, you must complete only one Practice Performance Assessment and Improvement activity, pass the Cognitive Examination, and maintain satisfactory Professional Standing. You may enroll in MOCA on your portal account.
You may complete MOCA on an expedited basis only once. If you wish to demonstrate continued qualifications after completing MOCA on an expedited basis, you must complete the full 10- year MOCA program.
You may continue to participate in the MOCA program. You will be required to do a second Part 2 Practice Performance Assessment and Improvement activity if you have not completed all MOCA requirements within 36 months of registration.
Your Professional Standing may be unsatisfactory for one of two reasons:
* The ABA defines a restriction as the revocation, suspension or surrender in lieu of revocation or suspension.
Yes, ABA candidates for initial certification and ABA diplomates must advise the ABA of any and all restrictions placed on any of their medical licenses. They must provide the ABA with complete information concerning such restrictions within 60 days after their imposition.
Such information shall include, but not be limited to, the identity of the State Medical Board imposing the restriction as well as the restriction's duration, basis, and specific terms and conditions. Candidates and diplomates discovered not to have made disclosure may be subject to sanctions on their candidate or diplomate status.
ABA candidates and diplomates can report medical licensure actions via their personal portal account, as well as by mailing or faxing a letter with the pertinent information.
Diplomates certified in 2004 or later must complete a total of 350 credits during the 10-year MOCA cycle. At least 250 credits must be Category 1 CME. Click here for AMA Guidelines for CME Activity Category Determination. The ABA will grant MOCA candidates a maximum of 70 CME credits per year for all ) completed on or after January 1, 2006. You must report 200 CME credits as a prerequisite to the Cognitive Examination.
All diplomates who enter the MOCA program after January 1, 2008 are required to complete specific amounts of
CME credits (based on the year certified) in ASA’s Self-Education and Evaluation (SEE) and/or Anesthesiology
Continuing Education (ACE) programs.
20 Category 1 credits of Patient Safety CME are also required.
Click here to view your specific requirements by year certified.
Time Limited
Yes, you may receive credit for CME activities completed after the date you were certified.
Non-Time Limited
Yes, you may receive credit for LLSA (CME) activities completed within the 10 year MOCA cycle. The 10 year MOCA cycle is
calculated by taking the year in which the diplomate wants to complete the MOCA program and looking back 10 years in time.
The ABA will not grant CME credit for specialty or subspecialty certification.
However, the ABA will grant 50 CME credits towards the Category 1 CME requirement for 12 months of fellowship training in an ACGME-accredited subspecialty program, or in an anesthesiology subspecialty fellowship program sponsored by an ACGME-accredited core anesthesiology program. In order to receive credit toward the MOCA program, you need to have completed the fellowship in or after the year you received your primary certification in Anesthesiology from the ABA.
The ABA will grant full credit only for Category 1 CME from sponsors approved by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) or eligible for Category 1 credit from the American Medical Association's Physician Recognition Award (PRA) Program.
Additionally, the ABA will grant CME Category 1 credit for CME activities approved as Category 1-A by the American Osteopathic Association.
The ABA will grant full "Other CME - Documented" credits for documented CME activities sponsored by organizations that are not ACCME or AMA PRA Category 1 accredited (e.g., foreign CME, ACLS training).
The ABA will grant a maximum of five "Other CME - Undocumented" credits for CME activities that are not sponsored (e.g., yearly committee membership, individual publications, individual lectures, monthly journal readings).
You may receive up to 100 CME credits for activities that are not Category 1 CME.
There are no yearly minimum requirements for CME activities. However, diplomates participating in MOCA must complete CME activities in at least 5 of the 10 years in the MOCA cycle. You will receive a maximum of 70 CME credits per year for all CME completed on or after January 1, 2006.
Yes, as long as the sponsor of the activity is the same and the activities are completed in the same calendar year. You can total the amount of credit you receive for a recurring activity and report completion on a monthly, quarterly, biannual, or annual basis.
Yes, all diplomates participating in MOCA will be audited at least once during their 10 year cycle. The ABA will identify the CME activities you reported during the year of the audit and the two previous years and request that you submit supporting documentation. Please do not submit documentation to the ABA until we request this information from you.
Third-party CME providers may submit CME activities and credits to the ABA electronically for ABA diplomates. The ABA will import the activities into your account. The provider reported activities are displayed in red in your CME activity listing.
These activities require your review and attestation before the ABA can consider them "complete". Click here for instructions on how to attest to these CME
You may appear for the Cognitive Examination as early as year 7 of the 10 year MOCA cycle if you have completed all of the required prerequisites. The examination is generally given during a two week period in both January and July. Please note that you do not need to wait until the end of the 10-year cycle to take it.
The Cognitive Examination is only one of four components of the MOCA program, so regardless of when you fulfill the examination requirement, the earliest you will receive a MOCA certificate is the day after your current certificate expires.
As of January 2008, the Cognitive Examination is given at Pearson Vue testing centers all over the United States.
Please click here to view current examination fees.
If you paid an application fee at the time you registered, $250 will be automatically credited toward your first MOCA examination fee.
Click here to view your specific requirements by year certified.
If you have met all of the qualifications to appear for the Cognitive Examination, the ABA will send you a letter at least 4 months before the date of the examination. At that time you will be asked to respond to the examination announcement and submit the examination fee online via your portal account. Additionally, you will receive information on how to schedule yourself for the examination at a Pearson Vue testing center located near you.
The ABA does not sponsor or make recommendations regarding review courses, study material, etc. Available on the ABA Web site is an Examination Content Outline, as well as an Examination Tutorial. The tutorial can be downloaded to your computer and shows the format of the computer-based examination.
The examination is administered at computer testing centers and is comprised of 200 multiple choice questions, of which the content is approximately:
150 questions in General Anesthesia
50 questions divided among: Pediatric Anesthesia, Cardiothoracic Anesthesia, Neuroanesthesia, Critical Care Medicine, Obstetrical/Gynecologic Anesthesia, and Pain Medicine.
You will be required to answer all questions to complete the examination and will have 4 hours to do so.
Diplomates certified in 2008 or later can complete the Case Evaluation and Simulation Education in any order. You must complete one activity in years 1-5 and the other in years 6-10 of your MOCA cycle. Both activities must be completed in your 10-year cycle.
The American Board of Anesthesiology is a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties.
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