ABFM Outreach: A Strategic Approach to Creating Genuine Partnerships with Family Physicians

A positive, genuine, and effective relationship between the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and the physicians participating in continuous certification over the course of their professional careers is essential for ABFM to achieve its vision of “optimal health and health care for all people and communities that family physicians serve.” In 2016 to 2017, ABFM’s Board of Directors had focused conversations around the fact that our duty to the public would be strengthened by viewing our duty to current and future Diplomates as a partnership. From this perspective emerged the belief that by increasing the understanding of the purpose of certification, making the process easier to access and complete, and improving the value of activities involved in continuous certification, ABFM could simultaneously assure physicians and the public that the credential represents a meaningful measure of professionalism, cognitive expertise, and commitment to improvement. But this new relationship, including meeting Diplomates where they were and listening more effectively, would require both a policy and administrative shift.