June 2022

President’s Message

Soon after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mississippi’s challenge to the constitutionality of federal protections for abortion rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the ABFM Board of Directors asked us to release the following statement:

In light of this decision, the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Board of Directors strongly endorses the American Board of Medical Specialties statement on Legislative Interference in Medical Education, Training, and Practice., as well as the statement issued by The American Academy of Family Physicians regarding this ruling.  As a certifying board that serves over 100,000 family physicians in the U.S., we recognize the commitment they make each day to provide optimal health care for all patients they serve. We stand by the need for these physicians to be able to deliver safe and accessible reproductive health services to women, retain the ability to receive adequate training to provide this care, and to support the need to preserve the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship in addressing personal medical issues.  Read Full Statement.

As the authors of Dobbs intended, the country is now engaged in a passionate, national debate about the whether, when, and how of abortion. The ABFM does not advocate in legislatures but in this case, we are bound to weigh in on the public dialogue about issues that are critical from the perspective of Board Certification: safety, training opportunities, and against criminalization of doctors’ private conversations with their patients. We stand by your efforts to meet the Institute of Medicine aims of providing care that is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable.

Ensuring the Value of Certification in a Turbulent Time

As I reflect on this day in June two years ago, I think about all that we have seen transpire. Hearing the stories about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives, our families, and our colleagues is truly humbling.

Despite the extraordinary and difficult challenges that we have faced as a family medicine community, I’ve witnessed amazing courage and stamina of individual family physicians and great progress within our specialty.  Whether you’ve been a champion of change in your practice, adapted at home with your family, or been out and about supporting your own community, I’m proud to be a colleague of such dedicated and compassionate family physicians.

Value: defined as the importance, worth, or usefulness of something…
-Source: Oxford Dictionary

In November 2021, the American Board of Medicine Specialties announced the new and approved Continuing Certification Standards.  One key element is the focus on improving the Value of continuing certification to physicians, their patients, and the public. So how do we think about our work in terms of continuously improving the value of certification?  At ABFM, we think daily about how to ensure that the process in which you engage for your certification, and its associated activities, are meaningful, relevant to practice, and that your time is used efficiently and wisely.

We have continued to make changes aimed at improving the value of certification in the first half of 2022. In this Phoenix, I’m pleased to share some of the highlights with you. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or comments.

Thank you for all you do.

Warren Newton, MD, MPH
President and CEO
American Board of Family Medicine

ABFM Welcomes New Board Members and Officers

We are pleased to announce the election of four new officers and three new board members. The new officers elected at ABFM’s spring board meeting in April are: Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, FAAFP, of Aurora, Colorado as Chair; Gerardo Moreno, MD, of Los Angeles, California as Chair-Elect; Daniel Spogen, MD, of Reno, Nevada as Treasurer; and Bob Wergin, MD, of Milford, Nebraska as Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee. In addition, ABFM welcomes this year’s new members to the Board of Directors: Christine Hancock, MD, of Bellingham, Washington; Saby Karuppiah, MD, of Overland Park, Kansas; and Anna R. Kuo, MD, of Atlanta, Georgia.

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Study Summarizes the Rationale and Purpose of Continuing Certification

As certifying boards continue to evolve their certification programs to focus on more frequent, learner-engaged assessments, a recently published comprehensive report synthesizes findings from over 600 studies to describe the foundational evidence behind the need for continuous certification. ABFM partnered with the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Medical Specialties, and faculty from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology to synthesize the evidence that supports the need for the continuing assessment of physicians’ clinical knowledge.

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National Journal Club Becomes Enduring Self-Assessment Activity, Adds 45+ Articles

Thanks to positive feedback from physicians like you, ABFM has upgraded the National Journal Club (NJC) pilot to an enduring self-assessment activity! NJC allows you to download and read the latest evidence-based articles to meet your certification requirements, or simply for your ongoing learning.

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New – Care of Women KSA Now Available

ABFM is proud to announce the new Care of Women KSA which combines updated content from the Maternity Care and Women’s Health KSA activities, with single-best-answer questions, and updated critiques and references. This new KSA is designed for any family physician who sees women in their practice, not just those who provide prenatal or maternity care.

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New Options for Performance Improvement Activity Credit

Population Health Performance Improvement Activity is now available!

We’re excited to announce the launch of a new Performance Improvement (PI) activity using the Population Health Assessment Engine (PHATE™). PHATE is a population health tool commissioned by ABFM and developed in collaboration with the Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) at the University of Missouri. Using PHATE, physicians and their staff can gain a greater understanding of communities in which their patients live and deepen their understanding of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH).

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Want to Know What Your Peers are Doing? Check Out the New Stories of Family Medicine Series!

ABFM is dedicated to sharing the stories of Diplomates and residents as they work to improve their practice, care for their patients, support their communities, and identify unique ways to meet their certification requirement. That’s why we recently introduced two new article categories: Health Equity in Action and Diplomate Perspectives. An initial set of 10 articles have been published and we have more on the way! Visit our article archive here.

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Want to Learn More about the Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care?

The ways in which health care professionals are currently measured and valued often work against the behaviors and relationships that patients want and expect from their providers. The Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care (CPV) was established to study relationships between professionalism and value, promote their alignment, recommend ways to reduce burden, and better support outcome and quality improvement.

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