FAQs CC Program

Continuing Certification (CC) is an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) initiative adopted by its 24 member boards to assure the public that their physician is committed to continuous professional development and lifelong learning and competency in their specialty and/or subspecialty. ABPath’s Continuing Certification Program is how ABPath fulfills this initiative.

The CC Program is recognized as an important quality indicator by insurers, hospitals, quality and credentialing organizations as well as the federal government. Through the CC program, board-certified physicians advance the standards of specialty medical care provided nationwide.

ABPath requires that ABPath CertLink© (ABPCL) questions be answered each quarter and that an electronic CC Reporting Form be submitted via PATHway every two years. A diplomate will be on either an even-year or odd-year reporting basis based upon the year of enrollment in the CC program.

The CC Program annual fee is $150 and can be paid via a link on the CC Program page of a diplomate’s PATHway account.

Only one reporting form is required every two years. Reporting requirements are not certificate specific.A diplomate’s ABPath CertLink© (ABPCL) assessment design will mandate certain content areas based on what certification(s) a diplomate holds.

Certificates with expiration dates will be replaced as their listed expiration date comes up if the certification’s Assessment requirement has been met and if the diplomate’s fifth reporting form has been approved.

The CC Program is open to all diplomates of the ABPath. Voluntary participation in the CC program, or lack thereof, cannot put a non-time limited certificate in jeopardy. Participation in CC by diplomates with non-time limited certificates is strongly encouraged by ABPath. Non-time limited certificate holders can either voluntarily enroll in the entire CC Program, or only complete ABPCL questions. Please refer to the CC Program page of your PATHway account for more details.

Completing a reporting form every two years meets the CC Reporting requirements (Professionalism, Lifelong Learning, and Improvement in Health and Healthcare).

CC Reporting Forms are accessed through the CC Program page of your PATHway account. PATHway can also be accessed by a link at the top of the abpath.org website.

When all required fields have been completed and the information saved you may click the “Finalize and Submit Form” button located in the lower left of each page. If all of the requirements are met, the form will automatically be submitted for review. If there is an issue trying to submit the form will display an error message.

Each diplomate is assessed a fee for development and maintenance of an electronic record of certification and CC participation with ABPath. For more information please view the Fees section of the CC Program Overview page.

No, completion of a fellowship during a reporting period may be used to satisfy both the Lifelong Learning and Improvement in Health and Health Care (IHHC) requirements. For fellowships that are not ACGME-accredited, a letter from the Program Director or other institutional official must be provided to ABPath stating that the fellowship was held to the same standards as an ACGME-accredited fellowship in order to be used for CC reporting.

ABPath accepts AMA PRA Category 1 CME and AOA Category 1A CME credits for the Lifelong Learning requirement.

No, CME credits can be obtained from any ACCME-accredited provider. ABPath requires that 80% of CME credits be directly related to your practice.

Any AMA Category I CME credits you earn can be reported directly to ABPath by an ACCME-accredited educational provider. These credits will appear in your PATHway profile and relevant reporting form automatically. Encourage your favorite educational organization to directly report to the ABPath if they do not already.

Diplomates only need to enter and track the minimum required number of CME credits in order to complete a CC Reporting Form. Diplomates wishing to enter and track all obtained credits beyond the minimum CC requirements may do so.

A full and unrestricted license is necessary to complete CC Professionalism requirements. If a diplomate holds more than one license, they all must be full and unrestricted and uploaded in the My Profile tab. Any non-US licenses in a language other than English must be accompanied by a translation when uploaded.

Some forms ask for references to complete evaluations of the diplomate. ABPath asks for two references from the four options presented. Please only enter a reference if they meet the requirement of a given line. The form will not be reviewed until both evaluations have been submitted to ABPath. It is the responsibility of the diplomate to follow up with their references to make sure that the evaluation forms are received via an automated email from PATHway and submitted as soon as possible.

The two references provided will be sent an email with a link to an evaluation form. The emails are sent at the time of reporting form submission. The evaluation is very brief and should only take a few minutes to complete and submit. The reference will be asked to comment on your effectiveness in the six CC competencies adopted by the ACGME and the ABMS.  

The reference email address may have been entered incorrectly on the Reporting Form. This can be corrected if you send a request to the update reference to [email protected]. Also, some mail servers may automatically send the evaluation link email into the reference’s junk or spam folder. Please ask the reference to specifically look for an e-mail from [email protected] with your name in the subject line.

If you would like to resend the evaluation email to a reference, the link to do so is located on your Board Correspondence page in PATHway. The link is only active if it is underlined.

On the Board Correspondence page in PATHway there is a list of your two references. If the Resend Evaluation Form link appears next to a reference’s name, then the evaluation form has not been received by ABPath. If the link is underlined then clicking it will resend the email to that reference.

ABPath CertLink® (ABPCL) is the online longitudinal assessment platform designed to support continuous learning and professional development for the CC Program. ABPCL FAQs can be found here.