CME Requirements

• 50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM for Diplomates currently enrolled in the MOCP. Following successful completion of the MOCP examination, 150 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM will be required.

•150 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM for Diplomates enrolled in the MOCP in 2009 or after.

Certificate of Recognition holders do not need to have Category 1 CME.  They have to have the equivalent number of formal education credits.  (see definition below)

The ABEM accepts the American Medical Association’s (AMA) definition of category 1 CME credit as follows:

CME consists of educational activities that serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession. The content of CME is that body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, the discipline of clinical medicine, and the provision of health care to the public.

The AANEM offers a number of online CME opportunities to meet the Category 1 requirements.

Formal Education Hours

Certificate of recognition holders need to complete formal education hours.  AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM is not required, but can be used for formal education hours. Formal education hours are defined as any course, seminar, meeting, or other formal educational activity which requires physician attendance and is sponsored by a hospital, medical school, medical association or medical specialty society. Books, web-based education, journal articles, CD/ DVDs, etc., that include questions and answers that allow the physician to evaluate the knowledge learned from reviewing the material are also permissible formal education hours. Go to www.aanem.org/education/cmeonline.cfm for online CME opportunities. Journal CME is also a good source of formal education credits. It is offered through Muscle & Nerve, Neurology, PM&R, and other medical journals. Formal education credits do not have to be obtained in the United States.

Category 1 Activities
Excerpted from The Physician’s Recognition Award–Information Booklet,  © The American Medical Association, 2000.