Several of our CME meeting planners want to start offering Continuing Certification (MOC) credit alongside CME. What does it take? We looked into it. Here’s the short version.

One note before we start: this is current as of August 2026. ACCME refreshed the Program Guide on July 30, so check the live version before you build anything.

The good news: if you’re already accredited, this is a workflow change, not a whole new project. No application to the boards. No approval process. No fee. It all runs through PARS, which you’re already in. You just need accreditation in good standing within the ACCME System, and that covers direct ACCME, state medical society, and Joint Accreditation.

Where to Start

Find out which boards your physicians actually hold. Ten boards use this pathway: ABA, ABIM, ABOS, ABOHNS, ABPath, ABP, ABPM, ABPMR, ABS, ABTS. Sort your roster and see where the numbers are. That tells you what to convert first.

Grab the CME for MOC Program Guide. It’s the document that matters. Requirements, board-specific rules, the exact recognition statement language, audit expectations. The Introductory Guide and Planning Worksheet are worth having too.    https://accme.org/resource/cme-for-moc-program-guide/

Pick two or three activities to pilot. Your biggest annual meeting, one grand rounds series, one enduring material. Don’t try to convert everything at once. Heads up that an RSS goes into PARS as one activity for the whole series, not session by session.

Rebuild your evaluation. This is the part that takes real work. It has to assess the individual learner, not the activity, and it can’t be anonymous. You set a participation threshold and tell learners about it ahead of time, then give them feedback with rationales. Your usual satisfaction survey won’t cut it if you get audited.

Update your registration forms. You’ll need each physician’s board ID, name, month and day of birth (without the year), and completion date. You also have to tell learners before the activity that their data is going to ACCME and their board.

Fix your marketing language. Each board has its own required statement about credit type and point amount, which you should add to all announcements. 

Register in PARS before the activity runs, and before you promote it. Then report learners within 30 days of them finishing the evaluation. ABP closes December 1. All the others on December 31.

Three Things That Trip People Up

Not everyone is covered. Family medicine, psychiatry and neurology, emergency medicine, OB-GYN, radiology, and dermatology aren’t included. Tell your medical staff early, or they’ll hear “we offer MOC now” and assume it means them.

Two boards need a head start. ABOS self-assessment credit must be pre-approved before you can select it in PARS, and that takes 6 to 8 weeks. ABA wants content outline tagging and won’t take board review courses.

Assume you’ll get audited eventually. Either ACCME or a board can pull any activity, and you get 30 days to respond. Hang onto the evaluation tool, proof you gave learners feedback, your pre-activity disclosure and recognition statement, and the list of who met the threshold.

Is It Worth It?

Usually, yes, and the reason is attendance. Physicians who need Part II points will show up for a series that knocks out both at once. That’s typically the argument that gets your CME committee on board.

Most of the lift lands on the CME office: evaluation tools, forms, PARS entry. Your activity directors have answered the questions. Figure one to two quarters from “let’s do this” to your first reported learner.

Sources

ACCME, Maintenance of Certification
https://accme.org/data-reporting/maintenance-of-certification/
Participating boards, provider eligibility, PARS registration in place of board application, advance registration, 30-day and year-end reporting deadlines, recognition statement placement, board badges.

ACCME, CME for MOC Program Guide
https://accme.org/resource/cme-for-moc-program-guide/
General requirements, individual learner evaluation and feedback, participation threshold, required learner data fields, no provider fee, RSS registered as one activity, audit documentation and 30-day response window, ABOS pre-approval, ABA content outline tagging and board review exclusion.

ABPN, Continuing Certification
https://abpn.org/continuing-certification/
CC Program booklet: https://abpn.org/wp-content/uploads/CC-Booklet.pdf
Self-assessment, PIP, and patient safety activities must be ABPN-approved and drawn from the ABPN Approved CC Activities List.

ABFM, Continuing Medical Education
https://www.theabfm.org/continue-certification/cme/
Credits verified through AAFP membership or manual entry in the MyABFM Portfolio, subject to final ABFM approval.

ABMS Continuing Certification Directory
https://www.continuingcertification.org/resources/
Side-by-side board requirements. Worth checking annually.

Working Documents

• CME for MOC Introductory Guide: https://accme.org/resource/cme-for-moc-beginners-guide/
• CME for MOC Planning Worksheet: https://accme.org/resource/cme-for-moc-planning-guide/
• Activity registration tutorial: https://accme.org/resource/cme-for-moc-activity-registration-tutorial/
• Learner credit submission tutorial: https://accme.org/resource/cme-and-moc-learner-credit-submission-tutorial/
• Program Guide Updates: https://accme.org/data-reporting/maintenance-of-certification/program-guide-updates/