Notes from the Chair:
Mary Beth Fasano, MD
by Mary Beth Fasano, MD
It is certainly a privilege to be serving as the 2012 Chair of the ABAI. Upon beginning my role on the Executive Committee, I took the opportunity to reflect on the mission of the ABAI which highlights improving the quality of medical care to our patients by the development and utilization of professional and educational standards for both initial certification and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) of specialists in Allergy & Immunology. In the current climate of change and health care reform there are many challenges that face the board. We continue to strive to develop components of MOC which are relevant to our diplomates, meet national standards, engender trust from our patients and other stakeholders, and most importantly improve quality of care.
We are fortunate to have Dr. John James, current ABAI Director and Chair of the MOC Task Force, to help us in our MOC mission. Dr. James and Ms. Rayne’ Harrison (Manager of MOC with the ABAI) are working with the AAAAI, the ACAAI and other organizations to increase the number of options available to our diplomates for completion of Part II (Life-long Learning and Self-assessment) and Part IV
(Practice Assessment/Quality Improvement) components of the MOC program. As many of you may be aware, several new initiatives are available for Part II MOC including MOC-CME credit for selected articles in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The ACAAI has developed an ABAI approved performance improvement module entitled Primary Cares: Performance Improvement Activity Designed to Improve the Diagnosis and Management of COPD and Asthma which meets Part IV MOC requirements. ASTHMA IQ, an AAAAI sponsored activity, has been approved for Part IV MOC for ABAI, as well as ABIM and ABP. Dr. Mark Corbett (past ABAI Director and ABAI Chair) continues to play an active role in the development of Allergy/Immunology specific measures for performance improvement, including measures for sinusitis, immunotherapy, food allergy and urticaria.
Members of the ABAI Board of Directors (myself included) had the opportunity to meet with many of you at the AAAAI meeting in Orlando in March 2012 and we invite all of you who will be attending the ACAAI meeting in Anaheim this coming fall to visit the ABAI booth in the Exhibit Hall. To learn more about MOC, we encourage you to visit our Web Portal. Sarah Johnson, Manager of Information Technology for the ABAI, leads our efforts to develop, improve and maintain the Web Portal. By visiting the Portal, you can access a variety of handy resources to answer questions related to MOC including an FAQ section and an audio slide show on MOC hosted by Dr. Linda Cox (current ABAI Director).
I realize that MOC is a "brave new world" for all us. I, as well as all of the other ABAI Directors are required to participate in MOC regardless of our initial certification status. So we really know first-hand what everyone is going through! The staff at the ABAI office can help to answer any questions or concerns that you might have related to MOC. I urge you to give them a call, or contact me, with any questions or concerns you might have. In addition, we are very interested in any suggestions you might have on ways to improve our Web Portal, communication channels with diplomates, and ideas for more meaningful MOC options, etc.
