Become Certified

Certification Activities

The certification activity requirement includes earning a total of 50 certification points by completing ABFM Self-Assessment and Performance Improvement activities. Each certification activity is assigned a point value to help you track your progress toward completing your 50-point total requirement.

Self-Assessment Activities

Designed to help family physicians identify gaps in knowledge through regular participation in self-assessment activities, this component enhances medical skills by reviewing the most up-to-date clinical content.

Requirement: Earn 10 points by completing a minimum of one (1) Knowledge Self-Assessment activity through the following options:

  • One (1) Knowledge Self-Assessment (KSA) activity, or
  • Four quarters of Continuous Knowledge Self-Assessment (CKSA) activities, or
  • Ten National Journal Club (NJC) article assessments.

Please note that CME is not required as part of the Resident Certification Entry Process.

Learn more about available self-assessment activities below.

Performance Improvement Activities

Designed to support high quality patient care, this component will help family physicians regularly identify an improvement opportunity or a performance gap, implement a change in care delivery, and measure the impact of that change to their patients or their practice.

Requirement: Earn 20 points by completing a minimum of one (1) Performance Improvement activity.

Select from a variety of ABFM-developed activities, or choose to design and report your own project through the Self-Directed Clinical activity. If your residency program participates in the Residency Performance Improvement Program (ResPIP) program, you may meet your requirement through this pathway.

Upon submission of a Performance Improvement activity, your work will be reviewed for meaningful participation. ABFM defines meaningful participation as identifying a gap in care or clinical processes, gathering baseline data for the chosen improvement measure, implementing an intervention to improve the chosen measure, and analyzing post-intervention data to assess the level of improvement.

Learn more about performance improvement activities ABFM offers below.

Get Started

To view your outstanding requirements and choose an activity, log in to your MyABFM Portfolio now!

MyABFM Portfolio