News & Alerts

The Spring 2013 Oral Examination commences the morning of June 8, 2013 through the afternoon of June 9, 2013, at The Swissôtel Chicago in Chicago, IL. To contact ABO staff at the Oral Examination, please call (312) 268-8096.

Results for the 2013 Written Qualifying Examination (WQE) were mailed on Friday, May 17, 2013. Candidates who took the WQE may find the results on their status page after logging in. Those who passed will have the ability to register for an Oral Examination (assignments to the fall 2013 or spring 2014 were included with the results letter). Those who did not pass will have the ability to register for the March 25, 2014 WQE.

The Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), a provision of the Affordable Care Act, offers participating physicians an incentive payment equal to 0.5% of their estimated total allowed charges for covered Medicare Part B services. Additionally, physicians participating in PQRS have the opportunity to receive an extra incentive payment of 0.5% by participating in a PQRS-approved Maintenance of Certification program (PQRS: MOC). The American Board of Ophthalmology's MOC program has been vetted and approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for this incentive (2012 & 2013). In accordance with PQRS rules, to qualify for the extra incentive payment, diplomates must meet the requirements of the MOC program AND participate in the program more frequently than is required for the calendar year.

2013 Maintenance of Certification activities are now available via the ABO's new Diplomate Portal. Diplomates may log in to their MOC Status Page in the upper-right corner of this page to update profile information, and register for or complete new activities.

The registration deadline for the Spring 2013 Oral Examination, to be held June 7-9 in Chicago, IL, is February 15. Candidates who successfully completed the Spring 2012 Written Qualifying Examination and were scheduled for this Oral Examination received registration instructions from the ABO.