Developing Content Weights for the 2026 Sports Medicine Blueprint

Introduction The Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine is administered by the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and cosponsored by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), and the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR). This article reviews the methodology used to determine the weighting of CAQSM assessments across five content domains. Methods A survey was comprised of 231 sports medicine clinical activities asking respondents to rate how often they perform a clinical activity (the Frequency Index- FI) and to rate the level of risk to the patient if the condition is misdiagnosed or not managed properly (the Index of Harm-IoH). A random sample of 800 diplomates representing Sports Medicine Diplomates from five member boards was selected to participate. Rasch modeling was employed to analyze the survey results. The sports medicine advisory committee voted to equally balance FI+IoH survey results to weight the content domains. Results The survey response rate was 42.2%. Survey respondents were demographically representative of the overall sampling frame across key variables, except for primary certifying board. Weights for the content domains were as follows: Musculoskeletal Conditions (32.1%), Medical Conditions (30.2%), Care of Emergency Conditions (22.4%) and Preventive Aspects of Sports Medicine (10.4%). Discussion This is the first nationally representative survey of sports medicine clinical activities performed in the United States. This survey data was used to develop a new sports medicine blueprint. In the future, this data may be used to develop curriculum or assessments.