OVERVIEW
As the field of dermatology changes—with medical information and treatment options advancing—the American Board of Dermatology (ABD) Continuing Certification Program (CCP) helps ensure that board-certified dermatologists are apprised of the latest developments and serves as a mechanism to attest to your efforts.
For the public, our goal is to ensure high standards of practice of ABD diplomates and assure that certified dermatologists have maintained their cognitive skills and kept up-to-date with new developments in the field.
For all practicing dermatologists, our goal is to provide valuable experiences for learning and practice improvement, by developing instruments for completing CCP requirements that are relevant, simple, low cost and user-friendly.
CCP COMPONENTS
PROFESSIONAL STANDING:
License Attestation
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
CME Attestation
Patient Safety
Periodic Self-Assessment
Practice Improvement
ASSESSMENT:
CertLink
For more details about all the above CCP Requirements, see CCP FAQs.
For a list of all options available for completing the various CCP Components, as well as feedback by other diplomates about them, see the CCP Resource Vendor List.
License Attestation:
We ask that you verify annually by December 31 that you hold an active license to practice medicine or osteopathy in the United States or Canada and that there have been no adverse actions against any of the licenses you hold in the United States or Canada. Adverse actions against any state license you hold are reported to the ABD via the Disciplinary Action Notification Service (DANS) of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
Clinically Active
In addition, we ask that you tell us annually whether or not you are clinically active. "Clinically Active" is defined as any amount of direct and/or consultative patient care, compensated or uncompensated, that has been provided in the preceding 12 months. If you check the box on your MyCCP Table that you are not clinically active, you will be asked to contact the ABD. An ABD staff member will discuss the implications and provide information about how you can maintain your Board certification. For details, please see our Clinically Inactive Policy.
For more details, see CCP FAQs: Professional Standing.
Each year, you are responsible for attesting to having earned a minimum of 25 hours of Category I CME. Half of the credits must be within the physician's specialty area or practice (i.e., 50% in dermatology). These hours should be accumulated in dermatologic education, but hours directly related to your type of practice are acceptable. For example, CME related to internal medicine would be acceptable if your practice is primarily a hospital-based consultation practice. Ethics, office management, and physician-patient relations are appropriate subjects for CME, but are not considered specialty-specific education.
For more details, see CCP FAQs: Continuous Medical Education (CME).
If you participate in the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Transcript Program, your AAD-sponsored and self-reported CME and Self-Assessment credits can be automatically transferred to your ABD CCP Table. To activate this data sharing for your profile, you must provide your consent on the AAD’s website: AAD.org --> Education --> CME Transcript Program --> View/Edit Transcript --> Change/View My Privacy Status.
We have further simplified the Patient Safety requirement. Recognizing that Patient Safety is embedded within most vehicles used to fulfill CCP requirements, the ABD eliminated the stand-alone Patient Safety requirement on the CCP Table in September 2018. All diplomates showing this requirement as Overdue or Upcoming were given a waiver. Diplomates who previously documented a stand-alone Patient Safety exercise on their CCP Table were automatically extended a 25-point Self-Assessment courtesy credit.
For more details, see CCP FAQs: Patient Safety .
The Self-Assessment portion of CCP emphasizes learning based on self-assessment. The activities address relevant medical knowledge, ongoing advances, and competencies in our specialty, based on practice gaps identified within dermatology. In order to “meet CCP requirements” you will need to complete 100 self-assessment credits in Years 1-3, 4-6 and 7-10 of the 10-year cycle, for a total of 300 credits in the 10-year cycle.
There are many options for fulfilling the Periodic Self-Assessment (SA) requirement, including:
Journals: CUTIS, JAAD, and JAMA Dermatology SA activities
Meetings: ABD-approved SA sessions at local, regional, and national dermatology society meetings
Online: AAD Question of the Week, AAD Case Challenges, and ABD Focused Practice Improvement exercises
See the CCP Resource Vendor List for suggested resources for fulfilling this requirement.
For more details, see CCP FAQs: Periodic Self-Assessment.
If you need assistance or have additional questions, please contact the ABD office.
These activities are an opportunity to reflect on what might be improved in the care you deliver, whether organized around a specific disease or an important patient care function (such as improved access to health care, improved patient outcomes or an improved patient experience).
One QI activity must be completed in the first 5 years of each 10-year CCP cycle and another in the second 5 years of the cycle.
The American Board of Dermatology has a library of more than 40 Focused Practice Improvement exercises for diplomates to use to fulfill this requirement. There is not a fee for these exercises; the cost is covered under the annual CCP fee.
The ABD also participates in the Multi-Specialty Portfolio Program which grants institutional approval to conduct Component 4 Practice Assessment/Quality Improvement activities. If you practice in one of the approved institutions, you may wish to determine whether you can access such a resource.
For more details, see CCP FAQs: Practice Improvement (PI).
Each year, the ABD will send you a reminder via email about the CCP $150 program fee that is due by December 31st of that year in order to "meet CCP requirements."
To view a summary of what your annual $150 pays for, see Where Do Your Fees Go?
For additional details, see CCP FAQS: Annual Fees.
