For all physicians in a group to receive MOC credit, Dr. Moyer said they must be able to demonstrate they were “intellectually engaged” in all phases of the project. Participation is verified through a physician’s self-attestation that includes a brief, written “reflection” on the experience, and attestation from the project leader, Dr. Moyer said.
Dr. Chuck Norlin of the department of pediatrics at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, said that he wonders if that will be enough to evaluate whether a physician was a “bystander, or was substantively involved in the process. Measuring self-attestation is challenging. It seems like it might be too easy for one or two physicians to do all the work.”
While quality improvement is not new in pediatrics, the timely reporting of the data is. “Using the MOC as a carrot does not seem to have increased the interest in participating in quality improvement by much, but it has made it much easier to get data back from the participating clinicians who now see not getting their MOC credit as the stick,” Dr. Norlin said.
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