Developing Issue UPDATE: CMS and Temporary Privileges

As discussed in the August 12 posting to the NAMSS Blog, CMS implied during a NAMSS webinar that the hospital governing body is the only body authorized to grant temporary privileges to practitioners. This interpretation is not standard practice and conflicts with the standards and processes put forth by the Joint Commission, Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP), and other CMS-approved accrediting bodies that have long been viewed as being compliant with CMS’ Conditions of Participation (CoP). In response, NAMSS provided comments to CMS urging a reconsideration of this recent interpretation and the continuation of the current national practice of granting temporary privileges in order to ensure that healthcare entities are able to provide timely patient care (click here for the letter). CMS has provided a response to NAMSS, stating they will be “evaluating methods to address how hospitals can meet their need to grant privileges between regularly scheduled governing body meetings, and, at the same time, continue to comply with the Medicare hospital CoP” (click here for the letter). Stay tuned to the NAMSS Blog for updates as we learn more from CMS.

ABIM Reverses Policy on MOC Enrollment and Certification Status

Last month, after receiving feedback from multiple industry stakeholders and medical societies, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) released a statement reversing changes made to its Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. In the statement, Dr. Richard Baron - President and CEO of ABIM - asserted:

"Effective immediately, diplomates who are meeting all other programmatic requirements will not lose certification simply for failure to enroll in MOC.

What does this mean for diplomates?

Diplomates who lost certification solely on the basis of failure to enroll in MOC or to pay MOC fees have now had their certification status updated to “Certified.” There is no further action they need to take.

Diplomates who wish to be reported as “Participating in MOC” must be enrolled in the MOC program, be current with their payments and be meeting ongoing program requirements.

Diplomates who earned initial certification since 2013 or renewed certification since 2014 who no longer wish to be enrolled in MOC this year as a result of this policy change may be eligible for a refund of their 2015 MOC enrollment fee(s). Please note that if ABIM provides a refund, MOC enrollment will be canceled, the physician’s status will be reported on abim.org and to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) as “Certified, Not Participating in MOC”, and the physician will no longer have access to ABIM activities or their MOC Status Report, which gives them their specific requirements and deadlines.

Diplomates must still meet 5 and 10 year MOC program milestones to maintain their certification."

For the full statement from Dr. Baron, please click here.