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Lifestyle Medicine Maintenance of Certification

A simpler way to maintain your certification.

The International Board of Lifestyle Medicine offers an approved method to maintain lifestyle medicine certification. This approach is supported by national certification bodies including the ABLM, ACLM, KCLM and PCLM.

Steps to Maintain Certification

  1. Enroll in the LMMOC within the first three months of the year following initial certification and submit payment annually by March 31st

  2. Stay compliant by reading three specific articles and completing quizzes annually by December 31st 

  3. Complete 30 CME hours from eligible courses and events every five years

Includes overall CME details, course options, and board members

What to Expect

Registrants receive regular reminders to ensure they’re in compliance with MOC rules and annual requirements, which must be completed no later than three months into the following calendar year.

How It Works

The process to remain certified indefinitely is simple- read the three required articles selected by an IBLM expert panel annually, answer 80 percent of questions correctly and obtain 30 hours of lifestyle medicine-specific CME every five years.

As long as you fulfill these requirements and stay on the MOC pathway, you will be continuously certified, and no re-certification exam is required at the end of your 10-year anniversary. It is as simple as that.



What is the cost?

The Maintenance of Certification alternative pathway is priced at around half of what a full re-certification will cost every ten years.

Please Note: To account for the discrepancy in purchasing power across the globe, we have created a three-tiered pricing matrix. Prices vary depending on your location and will renew annually on January 1.

MOC Rules

Each diplomate must sign up for the MOC pathway via the ABLM website, during the first three months of the year following their initial certification (i.e. certified in 2022, sign up between January 1st and March 31st, 2023).

Each diplomate must pay the relevant annual MOC fee via credit card each year by March 31st. Non-payment of the annual fee is regarded as an opt-out and a return to the 10-year recertification regimen. There is no option to buy back in.

Each diplomate must read the three carefully selected articles published on the MOC site and answer 80 percent of the questions about the article correctly to maintain certification each year. Every five years, each diplomate must also submit proof of 30 hours of LM-specific CME.

To be issued with your new certificate at your 10-year certification anniversary, you must submit proof of your then-current credentials (license to practice, ABMS certification for US physicians, current registrations for allied health professionals etc.)

As long as you fulfill these requirements and stay on the MOC pathway, you will be continuously certified, and no re-certification exam is required at the end of your 10-year anniversary. It is as simple as that.

Important Notes

If you are a diplomate of ASLM (Australia & New Zealand) or BSLM, please note that ASLM and BSLM run their own MOC program.
If you are a bachelor-level practitioner located outside North America, you cannot sign up at this time.
Registrations for 2017 - 2021 diplomates are closed.
Registrations for 2022 diplomates will be open until March 31st, 2023, via the ABLM website
Failure to pay or comply with the rules will lead to the termination of the MOC pathway and there is absolutely no option to “buy back in”. Diplomates simply revert back to the 10 year certification cycle.
Questions? Email MOC Manager via [email protected]
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