Maintain knowledge and skills in your specialty or subspecialty by meeting the following criteria for Osteopathic Continuous Certification.
Component 1 | Active Licensure
- Hold a valid, active license to practice medicine in one of the 50 states or Canada and uphold the standards outlined in the AOA’s Code of Ethics. Physicians with licensure restrictions will have their OCC file reviewed by the Certification Compliance Review Committee. Physicians holding only an active license to practice medicine outside the U.S. and Canada may be considered for OCC on a case-by-case basis.
Component 2 | Lifelong Learning/Continuing Medical Education
- Demonstrate your commitment to lifelong learning by fulfilling the required CME credits in your specialty area of certification during each specialty board’s CME cycle. Please refer to the CME Guide for further details.
Component 3 | Cognitive Assessment
- Pass one or more psychometrically valid and proctored examinations that assess your specialty medical knowledge, as well as core competencies in the provision of health care. Please refer to page 50 of the BOS Handbook for more details. Note: Some specialty boards may have additional requirements.
Component 4 | Practice Performance Assessment and Improvement
- Engage in continuous quality improvement by satisfying one of the following:
- Attest or submit evidence of participation in quality improvement activities. The attestation form can be found in the AOA Physician Portal. Log in and click OCC, scroll to Component 4 and select “Submit a component 4 attestation.”
- Complete a Practice Performance Assessment (PPA) module developed by a specialty board and approved by the SRC of the BOS.
- Complete a verifiable quality-driven or clinically-focused encounter that assesses your clinical acumen. Refer to pages 50-51 of the BOS Handbook for more details. NOTE: Some specialty boards may have additional requirements.