November 2022

President’s Message

As we look to the close of another year, I hope that you and your family are doing well and are able to enjoy some respite and quality time over the holidays—and that your clinical team continues to heal from the challenges of the pandemic.

This issue highlights improvements we are making to Family Medicine board certification to ensure its value to you. In clinical medicine value is often expressed as the equation — Quality plus Experience over Cost. At ABFM, we use each of these three variables to guide improvements in certification, frequently seeking input from Diplomates along the way. You’ll learn how we are working to increase the quality of certification activities, improving your experience with certification, while also identifying ways to reduce your burden.

Read the full President’s Message here

2023 Exam Applications Are Now Open

For those physicians with a 2023 examination requirement, ABFM has opened the application window earlier this year to ensure you have plenty of time to apply. Exam applications for both the one-day exam and the longitudinal assessment (FMCLA) option are now available in your MyABFM Portfolio. For more information, visit the links below.

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New! Longitudinal Assessment Options Now Available for Select CAQs

Adolescent Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Hospice & Palliative Medicine, Pain Medicine, and Sleep Medicine now offer longitudinal assessment examinations. The application window for several of the Certificates of Added Qualification (CAQs) is now open. If you’re interested in applying for Geriatric Medicine, Hospice & Palliative Medicine, or Sleep Medicine, you may start your application today.

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National Journal Club Committee Selects New Articles

The ABFM National Journal Club Committee was hard at work in the fall of 2022, meeting several times to finalize a new selection of articles. The 45 new articles will be available in December in the MyABFM Portfolio for any family medicine resident or certified physician, to keep up with the latest evidence on topics relevant to family medicine while also earning Self-Assessment points.

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Pisacano Leadership Foundation Announces 2022 Pisacano Scholars

The Board of Directors of the Pisacano Leadership Foundation is pleased to announce its selections for the 2022 Pisacano Scholarships.  The scholarships, valued at up to $28,000 each, are awarded to up to 10 U.S. medical students per year who demonstrate a strong commitment to the specialty of Family Medicine.

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New Public Member Selected for ABFM Board of Directors

The ABFM Board of Directors recently elected Tanya Lord, PhD, MPH to fill a vacancy as one of the public members of the Board. Dr. Lord, who serves as the Director of Patient and Family Engagement at the Foundation for Healthy Communities in Concord, New Hampshire, was recently interviewed about this new volunteer opportunity. She was driven to work in the field of health care after her young son, Noah, tragically passed away from complications arising from a tonsillectomy.

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Starfield Summit on Advancing and Improving Measurement and Value in Primary Care

The Center for Professionalism & Value in Health Care (CPV), the ABFM Research department, and the Virginia Center for Health Innovations recently completed a four-part, virtual event focused on how to refine measures on Low Value Care in an effort to support the pursuit of value in primary care health care delivery.

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PRIME Registry, Helping Independent Practices Stay Independent Since 2016

More than 600 practices across the United States currently use the PRIME Registry to turn their EHR data into information they can use with very little burden. Some use it to monitor quality and see how they are doing compared to peers. Some use it to participate in the Medicare Quality Payment Program (MIPS, APMs, MSSP) or to share their quality measures with whomever they need to.

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Certification Fees Reduced Effective July 1, 2022

The ABFM Board of Directors recently approved additional reductions in the costs associated with maintaining certification, effective immediately. ABFM has not increased fees for board certification in more than a decade and a half, and actually reduced the annual fee from $235 to $200 per year in 2012.

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