Can you share your background on how you got
to where you are right now?
Before medical school, I started doing research
in medical malpractice. That introduced to the
Institute of Medicine’s “To Err is Human” report.
As someone who wanted to be a doctor since I
was a kid to help people, I was shocked to learn
that doctors sometimes hurt patients more than
they helped them. In medical school, I got involved
with patient safety efforts to reduce bloodstreamrelated catheter infections in the ICU and improve
teamwork in the OR. Affecting immediate change in
healthcare practice was exhilarating. From patient
safety I went into healthcare quality to health systems and finally to population health.
Along the way, I became more and more of an
“accidental technologist.” Health care is incredibly
local; fix a problem here and you’ve fixed a problem
here. Everyone deserves the best available health
care, and technology is one of the best tools available to drive impact on a global scale. ■
Shiv Gaglani is an MD/
MBA candidate at the
Johns Hopkins School
of Medicine and Harvard
Business School. He writes
about trends in medicine
and technology and has
had his work published
in Medgadget, The
Atlantic, and Emergency
Physicians Monthly.
Project coordinators
welcome any cardiologist
interested in joining Human
Dx. Visit humandx.org or
scan the QR code below.
ACC Efforts Result in ABIM Decision to
Decouple Board Certification from Initial
MOC Enrollment
In a major reversal, the American
Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)
announced it is reversing its
policy requiring physicians who
have passed the initial Certification exam in 2014 or later to have
enrolled in the Maintenance of
Certification (MOC) process in
order to be listed as board certified. Effective immediately, physicians who are meeting all other
programmatic requirements will
not lose certification simply for
failure to enroll in MOC. This decision is a direct result of ACC’s
efforts over the last 2 months
seeking an expedited resolution
of this issue by ABIM.
In May, College leadership
was made aware of an email from
ABIM to early career cardiologists
who had passed the Cardiovascular Disease Certification Exam
in 2014. The email informed them
of the need to enroll in MOC by
March 31, 2015, in order to be
publicly reported as certified in
Cardiovascular Disease. It also
stated their certification would
remain valid only as long as they
were participating in MOC. Concerned about the implications of
this new process, ACC leadership
engaged ABIM leaders immediately, encouraging them to level
the playing field for all diplomats.
“By tying together board
certification and enrollment in
ACC.org/CSWN
Maintenance of Certification,
the American Board of Internal
Medicine appeared to devalue
the secure examination passed
by recently certified physicians,
by setting different standards
for them compared to those
certified in previous years. The
ABIM should be commended for
recognizing the negative impact
of this policy on current and
future employment opportunities, particularly for those in the
early stages of their careers, and
taking the steps necessary to reverse it,” said ACC President Kim
Allan Williams, Sr., MD, FACC.
This recent ABIM decision
follows several other major
changes to MOC over the last
year that have occurred as a
result of continued advocacy by
ACC, other cardiology specialty
societies, and internal medicine
stakeholders on behalf of their
members. On July 1, the ABIM
announced it was eliminating the
“double jeopardy” requirement
to maintain underlying certification in a foundational discipline in
order to remain certified in a subspecialty, effective Jan. 1, 2016.
For cardiologists, this means that
those specializing in interventional cardiology, electrophysiology,
advanced heart failure and transplantation, and adult congenital
heart disease no longer need to
maintain certification in general
cardiology in in order to maintain
certification in a cardiology subspecialty. Other changes include
an updated “Application for ABIM
MOC Recognition” that provides
more opportunities for physicians
to earn MOC Part II points for
activities with a self-assessment
component that have traditionally
been designated as CME credits
only, and a suspension for at
least two years for MOC Part IV
practice improvement modules
along with patient safety and
patient voice requirements.
“The ACC and its members
are being heard and this will no
doubt continue,” said Williams.
“The College is continually engaged with ABIM with a goal of
engendering a constant dialogue
and an atmosphere of change
for the benefit of our members
and their patients.” An ACC Task
Force is currently identifying how
best to work with the ABIM to
address additional recommendations, while a second ACC Task
Force is also exploring alternatives to ABIM MOC accreditation.
Recommendations of both Task
Forces are due to ѡ