ABP MOC Requirements: Points, Cycle, and MOCA-Peds

If you hold a certificate from the American Board of Pediatrics, keeping it active means meeting the ABP MOC requirements on a five-year cycle. This guide lays out the four parts of Maintenance of Certification, how many points you need, how MOCA-Peds works, and where your CME fits in.

We checked these requirements against the American Board of Pediatrics’ website. Rules change, so confirm with the ABP before your renewal.

The short answer

ABP MOC runs on a five-year cycle, and one cycle covers all of your ABP certificates.
You need at least 100 points per cycle: at least 50 Lifelong Learning (Part 2) points and at least 50 Health Care Improvement (Part 4) points.
You also need a valid, unrestricted medical license in the United States or Canada (Part 1) and a passed exam (Part 3) for each certificate you maintain.
Most pediatricians meet Part 3 through MOCA-Peds, which delivers up to 20 questions each quarter, or they can sit for a proctored exam instead.
CME and MOC are separate. ACCME-accredited CME counts toward Part 2 only when the activity has been approved for ABP MOC Part 2 credit.

ABP MOC requirements by part

The ABP organizes Maintenance of Certification into four parts. You have to be up to date in all four to keep your certification in General Pediatrics and any pediatric subspecialty you hold. Once you’re certified in a subspecialty, the ABP does not require you to keep your General Pediatrics certificate (Transplant Hepatology is the exception, since it requires Pediatric Gastroenterology).

Part	What the ABP requires	Per cycle
Part 1: Professional Standing	At least one valid, unrestricted medical license in the U.S. or Canada, and no restricted licenses	Attested when you enroll in each new cycle
Part 2: Lifelong Learning	Approved activities that assess and build your knowledge	At least 50 points
Part 3: Cognitive Expertise (Exam)	Pass MOCA-Peds or a proctored exam for each certificate	Aligned with your five-year cycle
Part 4: Improving Health and Health Care	Approved quality improvement activities	At least 50 points

The 50-point minimums for Parts 2 and 4 apply no matter how many certificates you maintain. If you hold more than one, the same five-year cycle applies to all of them.

How MOC points and the five-year cycle work

The math is simple: 50 Part 2 points plus 50 Part 4 points equals 100 total points. You can complete activities any time during the cycle, so there’s no annual minimum to hit. Different activities award different numbers of points, and your ABP Portfolio shows your current total and when your cycle ends.

In the final year of each cycle, you enroll again and pay a fee to start the next one. The ABP lists current fees on its enrollment page, so check there rather than relying on a figure you saw elsewhere.

Rollover points

Extra Part 4 work isn’t wasted. You can roll over up to 25 excess Part 4 points into your next cycle, so a pediatrician who finishes a cycle with 75 or more Part 4 points starts the next one with 25 already banked. Part 2 points do not roll over.

Part 2 options

The ABP lists several ways to earn Lifelong Learning points. These include the ABP’s Question of the Week, ABP and partner self-assessments, approved CME activities, life support certifications such as PALS, NRP, BLS, ACLS, ATLS, and PFCCS, internet search and learning, and substance use disorder training. The ABP doesn’t charge for its own activities, though other organizations may.

Part 4 options

Part 4 credit comes from approved quality improvement projects, and you can often earn it for QI work you’re already doing through your hospital or practice. The ABP requires meaningful participation, which means you’re intellectually engaged in the project, you review its data regularly, and you attend team meetings.

MOCA-Peds and the exam requirement

MOCA-Peds is the ABP’s online, non-proctored alternative to the traditional Part 3 exam. It’s included in your MOC enrollment, and there’s a separate seat fee only if you choose the proctored exam at a testing center.

Here’s how it works, according to the ABP:

You receive up to 20 multiple-choice questions at the start of each quarter and can answer them any time before the quarter ends.
Each question has a five-minute limit, and you get a 30-minute time bank per certification area per year if you need extra time.
You may use books, journals, and the internet, but you may not get help from another person.
After each answer you see whether you were right, along with a rationale and references.
Unanswered questions are scored as incorrect, and your four lowest-scored quarters in each five-year cycle are dropped.

Scores use a scale from 1 to 300, and 180 is the passing standard. You can pass in three or four years depending on your overall score. If you haven’t passed by the end of year four, you must take and pass the proctored exam to meet Part 3 for that cycle, and a MOCA-Peds final score can’t be appealed.

MOCA-Peds also feeds Part 2. You earn MOC Part 2 points for each quarter you reach a scaled score of at least 180, up to five points a year per certification area, awarded the following spring. MOCA-Peds by itself does not earn CME credit.

How CME relates to ABP MOC

This is where many pediatricians get tripped up. The ABP is not a CME-awarding organization, and it says plainly that Part 2 points and CME credits often overlap but are not the same thing.

An ACCME-accredited CME activity counts toward Part 2 only if it includes individual assessment and feedback and has been approved for ABP MOC Part 2 credit. You can search for these activities in the ACCME’s free CME Passport tool. When you finish an approved activity, the provider reports your completion, and the points appear in your ABP Portfolio within 30 days. You don’t need to send anything to the ABP yourself.

Most CME, including activities that carry AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, is not automatically approved for ABP MOC. That CME still matters for your state medical license and hospital privileges, which keeps Part 1 in good standing, but it won’t add Part 2 points unless the activity is specifically approved for them.

CME credit for finishing a cycle

The relationship also runs the other way. Through the AMA, board-certified pediatricians can apply for 60 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for successfully completing an MOC cycle. The application goes to the AMA, not the ABP, and must include a copy of your board notification letter. The AMA also offers a three-year Physician Recognition Award certificate for completing a cycle, though that certificate doesn’t include credits.

A simple plan for your cycle

Log in to your ABP Portfolio and note your cycle end date and current point totals.
Answer MOCA-Peds questions every quarter so you’re on track to pass by year three or four.
Pick up Part 2 points as you go through MOCA-Peds, Question of the Week, PALS or NRP renewals, or CME you’ve confirmed is approved for ABP MOC Part 2.
Look for a QI project at your hospital or practice early, since Part 4 projects take time.
Track your state license CME separately, because state requirements and ABP points are counted differently.

Keeping your license CME current

Your state license and your ABP certificate run on separate clocks, and most pediatricians need general CME no matter where they stand on MOC. Travel Medical Seminars offers Audio-Digest pediatrics courses in a 10-credit short course and a 20-credit full course, each designated for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ and completed online at your own pace. These courses are for CME credit. If you need ABP MOC Part 2 points, check whether an activity is approved for them, and use CME Passport to find ones that are.

ABP MOC requirements: points, cycle length, and MOCA-Peds