Phoenix Newsletter - October 2025 President’s Message: Enduring Commitments in a Time of Change Read President’s Message: Enduring Commitments in a Time of Change
Home Research Research Library ABFM Examination Asthma Item Performance and Asthma Prevention Quality Indicators in Kentucky ABFM Examination Asthma Item Performance and Asthma Prevention Quality Indicators in Kentucky 2012 Author(s) Sumner, W, O’Neill, Thomas R, Owens, P L, Schootman, M, and Hagen, Michael D Topic(s) Family Medicine Certification, Role of Primary Care, and Achieving Health System Goals Keyword(s) Quality Of Care Volume Journal of the Kentucky Medical Association Introduction: The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) certifies and recertifies family physicians in the United States and its territories. This process includes a proc-tored, secure cognitive examination. The 2009 examination included content specific to asthma. We examined performance on these items by Kentucky family physicians and pos-sible correlation with asthma outcomes.Methods: We identified specific asthma content on the 2009 ABFM examination and developed an asthma ability score, , using item response theory. We correlated this performance measure and a poverty measure with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Prevention Quality Indicator (PQI) # 15 (adult asthma hospitalization rates) for Kentucky.Results: The performance measure, , demonstrated an inverse correlation with PQI #15 (ie, high performance correlated with lower asthma hospitalization rates). The pov-erty measure showed a positive correlation with PQI #15.Conclusion: The specialty board certification movement has evolved based on the pre-sumption that specific knowledge contributes to higher quality patient outcomes. However, the evidence for this presumption is limited. Our results indicate that, at least for asthma outcomes for certified Kentucky family physi-cians, asthma knowledge as demonstrated on a recertification matters to Kentucky’s asth-matic patients. ABFM Research Read all 2023 Primary Care Physician Leadership in Top Ranked US Hospitals Go to Primary Care Physician Leadership in Top Ranked US Hospitals 1987 Pilot study using ‘dangerous answers’ as scoring technique on certifying examinations Go to Pilot study using ‘dangerous answers’ as scoring technique on certifying examinations 2019 Report from the FMAHealth Practice Core Team: Achieving the Quadruple Aim through Practice Transformation Go to Report from the FMAHealth Practice Core Team: Achieving the Quadruple Aim through Practice Transformation 2015 The Predictive Validity of the ABFM’s In-Training Examination Go to The Predictive Validity of the ABFM’s In-Training Examination
Author(s) Sumner, W, O’Neill, Thomas R, Owens, P L, Schootman, M, and Hagen, Michael D Topic(s) Family Medicine Certification, Role of Primary Care, and Achieving Health System Goals Keyword(s) Quality Of Care Volume Journal of the Kentucky Medical Association
ABFM Research Read all 2023 Primary Care Physician Leadership in Top Ranked US Hospitals Go to Primary Care Physician Leadership in Top Ranked US Hospitals 1987 Pilot study using ‘dangerous answers’ as scoring technique on certifying examinations Go to Pilot study using ‘dangerous answers’ as scoring technique on certifying examinations 2019 Report from the FMAHealth Practice Core Team: Achieving the Quadruple Aim through Practice Transformation Go to Report from the FMAHealth Practice Core Team: Achieving the Quadruple Aim through Practice Transformation 2015 The Predictive Validity of the ABFM’s In-Training Examination Go to The Predictive Validity of the ABFM’s In-Training Examination
2023 Primary Care Physician Leadership in Top Ranked US Hospitals Go to Primary Care Physician Leadership in Top Ranked US Hospitals
1987 Pilot study using ‘dangerous answers’ as scoring technique on certifying examinations Go to Pilot study using ‘dangerous answers’ as scoring technique on certifying examinations
2019 Report from the FMAHealth Practice Core Team: Achieving the Quadruple Aim through Practice Transformation Go to Report from the FMAHealth Practice Core Team: Achieving the Quadruple Aim through Practice Transformation
2015 The Predictive Validity of the ABFM’s In-Training Examination Go to The Predictive Validity of the ABFM’s In-Training Examination
