American Osteopathic Association

1
American Osteopathic Association

• Continuous Certification Process

2
American Osteopathic Association

• Members House of Delegates
• Board of Trustees - President
• Department of Education
• Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists
• 18 Certification Boards

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Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists

• 2007 approved schedule for implementation for
  continuous certification
• All 18 boards required to submit plan for
  continuous certification by Nov. 2008
• All plans to be implemented by 2012
• American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine
  implemented continuous certification program in
  2004

4
American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine

• Continuous certification replaces traditional
  recertification
• Program requires all diplomats to provide
  evidence of meeting four components on a
  continual basis
• Components include Professional Status,
  Continuous Osteopathic Learning Assessment,
  Formal Recertification Examination, and Practice
  Status

5
Professional Status

• Maintain valid, unrestricted and unqualified
  medical license in state(s) where practice
• Current, non-expired documentation of licensure
  is required to be on file with the AOBEM ongoing
• All new licenses must be submitted
• Must maintain AOA membership and meet all CME
  requirements and adherence to AOAs Code of Ethics

6
Continuous Osteopathic Learning Assessment (COLA)

• Eight modules over 10 year cycle available
  on-line
• All diplomats must take all eight COLA modules
  within 10 year cycle
• Diplomat must receive passing score on six
• Taking all eight and passing six are required for
  eligibility to take Formal Re-Certification
  Examination (FRCE)

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Formal Re-Certification Examination

• Required by all diplomats to maintain
  certification 10 year cycle
• Two year window before and after date of
  certification expiration to successfully complete
  FRCE - certification date not extended
• Examination consists of written and oral
  component
• Written is computer based (Prometric)
• Oral is 2 stations, 4 cases, 1 Interpersonal

8
Practice Status

• Diplomats must provide evidence of active
  practice of emergency medicine at time of
  application for FRCE
• May be satisfied by direct clinical practice of
  emergency medicine or related activities such as
  administration, academic emergency medicine,
  emergency medical services, toxicology, sports
  medicine, and undersea and hyperbaric medicine.
• AOBEM makes decision on relevance

9
Clinical Assessment Program (CAP)

• Quality improvement tool for osteopathic
  physicians to evaluate the effectiveness and
  safety of patient care in their clinical practice
• CAP provides evidence-based measurement sets on 8
  clinical conditions including diabetes, asthma,
  COPD, coronary artery disease, hypertension,
  womens health screening, childhood
  immunizations, and low back pain
• CAP measurements can be used as a component of
  continuous certification for relevant osteopathic
  boards.