Using the Family Medicine Certification Longitudinal Assessment to Make Summative Decisions

On January 4, 2019, the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) launched the Family Medicine Certification Longitudinal Assessment1 (FMCLA) pilot. Our hope is that FMCLA will provide both summative feedback—assessing whether a candidate has the cognitive expertise to be a board-certified family physician—as well as formative feedback—to help diplomates know more accurately what they do not know and, thus, focus their learning. With respect to the formative component, early reports are very positive. Of the eligible diplomates, 71% took advantage of the pilot. The technology platform is functioning well. Very few diplomates have withdrawn and many report that the tool is helping them learn. Evaluation from this quarter and the next will begin to give us a better understanding of how FMCLA fits into the other ways diplomates learn, and we will explore new formats of reports to support diplomates’ learning efforts.