Two bodies want something from your continuing medical education (CME). Your state board wants hours toward license renewal. Your specialty board, one of 24 member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), wants Maintenance of Certification (MOC), treating CME credits as only one of several inputs. Both rely on AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, which the American Medical Association (AMA) owns. Only providers accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), or by a state medical society ACCME recognizes, may designate it.
The state board sets the floor
State CME has no national standard. The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) tracks every board's requirements in a table last updated August 2026: 63 of 67 boards require at least 15 hours a year. Fifty-five require CME in specific topics and 28 accept some form of equivalent.
Specifics vary widely. California requires 50 hours every two years; most physicians must also complete a one-time 12-hour course on pain management and end-of-life care, though pathologists and radiologists are exempt. Florida requires 40 hours per two-year cycle, 38 general plus a 2-hour medical errors course, and DEA-registered physicians must also complete 2 hours on controlled-substance prescribing. Texas requires 48 credits every 24 months: at least 24 formal Category 1 hours (2 must cover medical ethics), plus periodic pain management and human trafficking training for direct-patient-care physicians. New York mandates no general credit total, only specific courses, including child-abuse training and infection-control renewal every 4 years.
One requirement sits outside the state system. The federal Medication Access and Training Expansion Act (MATE Act), effective June 27, 2023, mandates a one-time 8-hour training on opioid and substance use disorders. It applies to nearly all DEA-registered prescribers nationwide.
Your specialty board asks for more
The ABMS Standards for Continuing Certification, effective January 1, 2024, require each member board to verify your certification status at least every five years and your unrestricted licensure every year. The ABMS page for physicians lists four components: professionalism, lifelong learning, assessment, and improvement in health and health care. Lifelong learning is where CME sits, alongside self-assessment and other practice activities. Each board sets its own numbers.
| Board | Learning requirement per 5 years | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) | 100 MOC points; accredited CME is one route, no stated credit-to-point rate | Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA), quarterly, open resource, or the Traditional 10-Year MOC Exam, one day |
| American Board of Surgery (ABS) | 125 Category 1 CME credits on a rolling basis (each credit expires five years after the activity) | Online Continuous Certification Assessment every two years, 40 questions, 80 percent after two attempts |
| American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) | 50 Lifelong Learning (Part 2) points plus 50 Improving Health and Health Care (Part 4) points; CME earns Part 2 only | Maintenance of Certification Assessment for Pediatrics (MOCA-Peds), up to 20 questions a quarter, or a proctored exam |
ABIM requires 100 MOC points every five years. ABIM dropped the two-year checkpoint on October 28, 2024. The LKA presents 600 questions over five years; you must open at least 500. Each correct answer earns 0.2 points, capped at 24 points a year. The Traditional MOC Exam earns 20 points per attempt.
ABS credits from accredited activities sync automatically via the ACCME data collaboration, active since 2021. Most accredited activities need no manual upload.
Accredited CME earns Part 2 Lifelong Learning points, posted to your ABP portfolio within 30 days of completing the activity. MOCA-Peds scores run 1 to 300. The passing mark is 180, and you have four years to reach it. Miss the year-4 mark and the proctored exam in year 5 is mandatory; there is no appeal.
Where MD Progress fits
MD Progress is a self-directed learning platform, not accredited by ACCME or a recognized state medical society, so time on it earns no Category 1 credit. You self-report it as AMA PRA Category 2 Credit, which is self-designated and cannot satisfy any Category 1 requirement. Category 2 is not transmitted automatically.
Quick reference
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Licensing body | Your state medical board; FSMB publishes the board-by-board table |
| Certifying body | One of the 24 ABMS member boards |
| Credit types | AMA PRA Category 1 (accredited providers) or Category 2 (self-claimed) |
| MOC cycle | Set by each board: ABIM and ABP five years; ABS assessment every two years, CME on a rolling five-year basis |
| Example: ABIM | 100 MOC points per five years |
| Example: ABS | 125 Category 1 CME credits, rolling five years |
| Tracking platform | Your board's portal: ABIM Physician Portal, ABS surgeon portal, ABP Portfolio |
One activity, two ledgers
ACCME's Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS) links accredited activities to MOC credit; activities registered this way are called CME for MOC. Ten boards participate. ABIM, ABS and ABP, the three above, are among them; the others serve anesthesiology, orthopaedic surgery, otolaryngology, pathology, preventive medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and thoracic surgery. Providers register each activity before it runs and choose which boards apply. Completion deadlines for reporting are December 1 for ABP and December 31 for the other nine.
Credit flows without paperwork from you. ABP posts Part 2 points automatically once the provider reports your completion. ABIM counts the CME toward your MOC point total when the activity carries PARS registration. No credit-to-point conversion rate is stated.
The content tag is optional. PARS lets providers flag an activity as meeting a specific state board's content requirement through a State Content Tag, but not all use it. Your state board's site is the authority on whether a tagged activity counts toward your renewal.
State law varies. Texas gives a presumption of compliance to physicians certified or recertified in the preceding 36 months, limited to some requirements and valid for one registration period only. Physicians enrolled in a board MOC program that itself requires qualifying CME receive a separate presumption, also limited to some requirements. For North Carolina, being in an MOC program satisfies the full three-year cycle. Passing a certifying or recertifying exam earns 100 hours in California, credited toward the licensure requirement; neither Florida nor New York mentions MOC on their renewal pages.
Two ledgers. One tracks specialty-board requirements (point target, assessment deadline, MOC portal); the other tracks state requirements (hours, mandated topics, renewal date). An activity registered for MOC through PARS can satisfy both when the subject fits. Your state board's page says whether board certification reduces your renewal hours.
Sources
- AMA PRA Credit System requirements
- About Accreditation (ACCME)
- FSMB Continuing Medical Education: Board-by-Board Overview
- Continuing Medical Education | Medical Board of California
- Continuing Education Requirements for Physicians | Texas Medical Board
- Medical Doctor (MD) Renewal - Florida Board of Medicine
- Mandated Training for Medicine (NYSED)
- Standards for Continuing Certification | ABMS
- Staying Board Certified | ABMS
- Maintaining Your Certification | ABIM
- Physicians spoke and ABIM listened: 2-year MOC point requirement is eliminated
- Assessment Options | ABIM
- Participate in Activities | ABIM
- Continuing Medical Education (CME) - American Board of Surgery
- Continuous Certification Assessments - American Board of Surgery
- Maintenance of Certification (MOC) - American Board of Pediatrics
- The Four Parts of MOC - American Board of Pediatrics
- MOC Credit for CME Activities - American Board of Pediatrics
- MOCA-Peds - American Board of Pediatrics
- Maintenance of Certification (ACCME)
- CME for MOC Activity Registration Tutorial (ACCME)
- MOCA-Peds Scoring - American Board of Pediatrics
- MOCA-Peds FAQs - American Board of Pediatrics
- The AMA Physician's Recognition Award and credit system (PDF)