AOE Compliance Connection

Welcome to the March 2026 edition of AOE’s Monthly Newsletter. This edition of AOE Compliance Connection includes an ACCME/JA credit reporting update, final reminders for 2025 Annual Reporting, a beginner’s guide to integrating MOCs in accredited CE, and a brief recap of our time at the 2026 Alliance Annual Conference.

As a friendly reminder, AOE drops weekly compliance tips that your team can use for compliance success, so don’t miss out—you can view our running library here!

ACCME and JA announced that the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) plans to end self-reporting of CME credits by diplomates. The reporting responsibility will transition to accredited providers over the next two years, officially taking effect on January 1, 2028.

In the future, ABTS surgeons that want their CME credit counted toward their ABTS Continuing Certification (CC) requirements will rely on providers to report their individual learner credit to ABTS through PARS/JA-PARS. To ease into the transition, ACCME/JA suggest that providers whose CME activities are used by ABTS diplomates start to register activities and report individual learner credit to ABTS through PARS/JA-PARS now (if they aren’t already doing so).

Per the ACCME/JA, this transition is intended to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and reliability of CME data reporting, as well as “reduce administration burden for physicians.” ABTS surgeons will be able to view credits/transcripts in the CME Passport tool with no need to labor over uploads or manual data entry.

You can read the full announcement here.

Annual Reporting deadlines are a week away! Make sure your organization has what it needs for each board with which you are accredited:

ACCME: March 31, 2026 Deadline (ACCME Process) (PARS Information) (FAQ about Annual Reporting)

ANCC: April 1, 2026 Deadline (NARS Information) (Reporting Requirements) (FAQ)

Joint Accreditation: March 31, 2026 Deadline (JA-PARS Information) (Requirements)

ACPE: No Annual Reporting

Please note: Providers accredited by a state medical society may be required to complete their annual reporting requirements earlier and should check with their Recognized Accreditor for more information.

A Beginner’s Guide to Integrating MOCs in Accredited CE

Accredited providers are continually searching for ways to best serve and engage their learners. While educational needs assessment is a primary driver in designing effective activities, secondary needs—such as Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credits, for example—also can come into play. Accredited CE activities that fulfill primary educational needs and satisfy MOC requirements give busy clinicians an added incentive to participate in them. It becomes a value add for both the provider and the learner.

Typically, accredited medical societies, health profession membership organizations and associations design activities that meet MOC requirements as their specialty directly aligns with one of the certifying boards. Other accredited provider types (such as hospitals, healthcare delivery systems, and education companies) may integrate various certifying board MOC requirements into their activities as they have a diverse group of healthcare professionals who want their CME credit counted toward MOCs.

If you are considering integrating MOCs into your accredited CE program, AOE has helpful tips to get the process started.

Assess your learner audience and align certifying board selection.

Who is your core learner audience? Within it, which medical specialties are represented? Do you have a large learner segment of professionals that are certified with a particular board? ACCME’s collaboration with the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) enables accredited providers to offer CME credit that counts for MOC with the boards below. Note: Some of these boards refer to their programs as Continuing Certification or Continuous Certification (CC) instead of MOC, but they are essentially synonymous.

• American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA)
• American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)
• American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery (ABOS)
• American Board of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (ABOHNS)
• American Board of Pathology (ABPath)
• American Board of Pediatrics (ABP)
• American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR)
• American Board of Surgery (ABS)
• American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS)
• * Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Royal College MOC Program Section 3 - Self-Assessment Programs credits)

Identify which board (or boards) apply to your learner audience.

Do a deep dive into the certifying board requirements for MOC credits.

Once you’ve flagged the board or boards most appropriate to your learners, review the CME for Maintenance of Certification Program Guide here. Each board has specific requirements that an activity must meet to ensure the CME credits can be counted toward MOC credits. These requirements can include restrictions on activity format, specifications for content and practice areas, special reporting instructions, and evaluation formats—so make sure you are clear on expectations.

Be discerning when selecting MOC credits for accredited CE activities.

Now that you know which certifying boards may align with your learners and activity slate, and their specific requirements, you can determine which accredited CE activities will be appropriate MOC opportunities. Providers register for MOC at the activity level, not the program level, so be discerning from activity to activity. Early in the process, ask your activity planning team/committee to designate which board MOCs are appropriate to that activity. Not all will fit the bill.

Consult the board requirements as planning progresses.

Keep the CME for MOC Program Guide handy as planning progresses. This will help to ensure that requirements are integrated from the start and activity materials are tailored appropriately—not retrofitted at the end. For example, if a board has a limit on how often a learner can participate in an activity and claim credit for it in a single day, your team needs to determine how to communicate and track this. Or, if a board requires that an activity evaluation includes feedback to the learner with rationales for correct answers, your team will need to factor this into your evaluation design. If you have any questions not answered in the guide, you can also reach out directly to the board.

Register the activity for MOC in PARS.

Register the activity in PARS prior to launch and select “yes” when asked, “Would you like to register this CME activity for MOC so that physician attendees may receive MOC point/credits?” From there, PARS will require a series of required fields and attestations you must complete to ensure you will follow MOC requirements and ACCME requirements for learner data/reporting in PARS.

Add MOC recognition statements to your activity materials.

Now that your activity is set up for MOC in PARS, consult the CME for MOC Program guide for the exact board recognition statement to use on all relevant activity materials. As with your ACCME accreditation statement and physician credit designation, you must provide the MOC recognition statement, credit amount, and what type of MOC points/credits the activity offers to learners before the start of the activity. Make sure these are accounted for in program materials.

Submit learner credit data.

Last step! As the accredited provider, you are responsible for submitting learner credit data into PARS for any activity you register for MOC. As soon as learner credit data is available for your activity, submit the data into PARS. This will initiate credit allocation on the board’s end. Most of the boards require that providers submit learner credit data by December 31^st; the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) requires data by December 1^st. Always consult the ACCME’s MOC page here to ensure you’re up to speed on updates and potential date changes.

AOE's Senior Program Manager Sarah Porter and Director of Operations Melissa Marick at Alliance 2026

Team AOE had a fantastic time presenting, attending and exhibiting at the 2026 Alliance Annual Conference last month. This year marked the 50^th anniversary of the conference, and there was a palpable air of festivity throughout the ballrooms and corridors of the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

AOE Senior Program Manager, Sarah Porter and Director of Operations, Melissa Marick led an engaging “CPD Escape! Stuck in the Muck of Standard 3” session on Tuesday, February 17^th, activating hearty discussion among CE professionals. Additionally, team AOE’s post at exhibit hall booth 408 allowed us to rub elbows with an array of organizations and learn more about the tools, platforms and services our colleagues are using to optimize efficiency in the CE/CME/CPD space.

This year’s event was testament to the conference’s greatest strengths—the breadth of sessions offered (which provide a truly multidimensional look at the diverse branches of CE), as well as the unparalleled networking opportunity. The conference provides an invaluable time to convene with familiar faces and new acquaintances from all facets of the CE world.

We look forward to 2027!

• 2026 SACME Annual Meeting
  March 22 – March 25, 2026, Lexington, KY (and virtual)
  Read More >>
• 2026 Joint Accreditation Leadership Summit
  May 5, 2026, Chicago, IL
  Read More >>
• ACCME – Learn to Thrive 2026
  May 6-8, 2026, Chicago, IL
  Read More >>
• 2026 ACCME Accreditation Workshop
  August 25 – 26, 2026, Chicago, IL
  Read More >>
• ABMS Conference 2026
  September 16 – 18, 2026, Chicago, IL
  Read More >>