As a steward to my private practice to keep everyone up to date for ABR maintenance of certification, one area more than any other has caused more confusion. And that is practice-based improvement. In the beginning when the ABR created this requirement, it was not clearly defined. And, it has undergone a more significant change than any of the other requirements that the ABR demands. Now, to this day, I still get radiologists in practice asking me – “How can I satisfy this requirement?” No doubt it isn’t all that apparent.
So, let me refer you to the ways to meet these ABR requirements (just click this link). It will describe what you need to satisfy the requirements of the ABR. But, for those of you that hate reading meaningless dry lists, let me give you my interpretation of six of the easiest ways that you can meet this obscure requirement!
Easiest Ways To Satisfy The Practice-Based Improvement Requirement!
“Participation as a member of an institutional/departmental clinical quality and/or safety review committee”
Most radiologists who work with or for a hospital have to be a part of a safety committee. For me, I am part of the nuclear medicine QA and MRI quality committees. So that fits the bill as meeting this requirement. But almost any committee that has anything to do with safety would satisfy this ABR requirement if, god forbid, you had an audit!
“Publication of a peer-reviewed journal article related to quality improvement or improved safety of the diplomate’s practice content area”
This requirement is also pretty benign for those who work for or with a radiology residency program. Nowadays, most academic and pseudo-academic world departments need to work on a quality improvement project with residents. It is pretty easy to get your name on one of these articles if you have a residency program. Most residents would be happy to have you on their project to help them out a bit!
“Participation as a member of a root cause analysis team evaluating a sentinel or other quality- or safety-related event”
Left up to interpretation, this can mean being a compliance officer or part of a team responsible for morbidity and mortality conferences. Many practices have baked this conference into their partners’ meetings already. So, you may be satisfying this requirement and may not even know it!
“Regular participation (at least 10/year) in departmental or group conferences focused on patient safety.”
Again, you may be doing this already. Many radiologists have to participate in tumor boards, surgery conferences, or other morbidity and mortality conferences. All these conferences count toward the requirement. You may already have more than ten. Just make sure to record them!
“Creation or active management of, or participation in, one of the elements of a quality or safety program”
If you are desperate and have a residency program, this can mean giving a lecture on a safety topic to residents. You can provide a pre-test and a post-test. Then, all you need to do is to show improvement. Oualaa… A quick way to satisfy the requirement if you can’t meet the others.
“Active participation in applying for or maintaining accreditation by specialty accreditation programs such as those offered by ACR, ACRO, or ASTRO”
For many, this is another easy one. Yearly, I am bombarded with questions for continuing accreditation for the ACR from my technologists, physicists, and more. And, there is a good chance that your practice requires ACR accreditation too. All you have to do is document your participation!
Meeting The MOC Practice-Based Improvement Requirement
So, there you have it, six relatively painless ways to satisfy the MOC requirements. Many of these you may be doing already and not even realize it. It seems silly to have these as a requirement to maintain accreditation in radiology because many of them are on the fringes of what we do as radiologists. But whatever works and makes our lives easier so that we can continue our ABR accreditation!
