Part 3: Assessment of Knowledge, Judgment, and Skills

Part 3 requires passing the most recent performance evaluation for the Online Longitudinal Assessment (OLA) or having passed a traditional exam in the previous 5 years. In May 2016, the ABR announced its plans to move away from the 10-year exam to OLA.  Those who needed to pass an MOC Exam by March 2, 2017, were still required to take and pass the exam in 2016 to meet the Part 3 requirement. All other diplomates in all the ABR’s disciplines have been deferred from completing the Part 3 until OLA is available in their discipline. (This does not include Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Pain Medicine subspecialties because those are administered by other boards.) Individual diplomates can determine their need to take the current MOC exam by logging in to myABR.  

Overview of the OLA Process

Within the OLA product, diplomates will create a practice profile of the subspecialty areas that most closely fit what they do in practice, as they previously did for the ABR’s modular MOC exams. They will receive weekly emails letting them know that they have the opportunity to answer an online question relevant to their registered practice profile. After opening a question, diplomates will be allowed a limited amount of time to answer. They will learn immediately whether they answered correctly and will also receive a brief explanation of the correct answer, as well as a reference. Those who answer questions incorrectly will receive future questions on the same topic to gauge whether they have learned the material. OLA is designed to have minimal impact on a diplomate’s workday and requires no time away from work or travel expense. The potential for retesting areas of weakness provides a further opportunity for diplomates’ self-assessment of their professional growth.  

Implementation

It will take considerable time for the ABR to fully develop, test, and implement the OLA product. Thus, precise implementation rules and details, including ultimate format, scoring, and reporting, are yet to be finalized. The ABR anticipates an OLA pilot for a limited number of diplomates to be launched in the latter part of 2018. After the pilot has been completed and any necessary modifications have been made, OLA will be available to all diagnostic radiology diplomates in 2019. OLA for other diplomates will follow as soon as possible. To ensure their certificates remain valid, diplomates must continue meeting requirements for Parts 1, 2, and 4 of MOC and make their yearly attestations in myABR. The ABR will post information, on the ABR website and will periodically report progress regarding this change through its existing communications. Any major developments will be announced as needed through direct diplomate notifications. The ABR has also posted Frequently Asked Questions about OLA.

If you need more information about the traditional MOC exam, please click here.

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