This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on ISI (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Quality of Care, Other  • Ophthalmology, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic

Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122:767-769.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program, to be introduced by the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) in 2004, represents a new level of thinking about physician skills and methods of assessing them. It is fair, therefore, to ask how this came about and what it will accomplish.

When the concept of a specialty board was first developed with the formation of the ABO nearly 90 years ago, the emphasis was on a demonstration of qualifications to practice as a specialist. This emphasis reflected the need at a time when so many claiming to be specialists had little or no training. During the ensuing years, the efforts of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to effectively supervise training of residents and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) boards to promote voluntary initial specialty certification largely rectified the situation. In the meantime, however, the practice environment did not remain . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Denis M. O'Day, MD
Nashville, Tenn