Thank you for reading this issue of ABPM’s newsletter!
The first quarter of 2022 has been an exciting time at ABPM – we have a lot of great news to share with you!
First of all, I’d like to extend my hearty congratulations to ABPM’s newest Diplomates and current ABPM Diplomates who recently recertified! We celebrate your dedication to excellence and your commitment to continuously improving your skills and improving outcomes for the populations you serve. Well done!
Two accomplished individuals from the ABPM community, Karen R. Studer, MD, MBA, MPH, FACPM, and Jeffrey Hoffman, MD, FAMIA, will be joining the Board later this year. At the Board’s Annual Meeting in January 2022, we selected Dr. Studer to fill the Director position representing Public Health and General Preventive Medicine that will be vacant when Dr. Carolyn Murray completes her final term on the Board in August 2022, and we elected Dr. Hoffman to take the reins of the Clinical Informatics Sub-board after Dr. Adi Gundlapalli completes his final term in August 2022.
In March, we were very pleased to announce that the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) approved a second extension to the Practice Pathway for Clinical Informatics. This is a fantastic development that will not only provide experienced and well-qualified physicians with a few more years to apply for the Clinical Informatics certification exam, but also will allow more time to grow the number of ACGME-accredited fellowships and ensure the continued sustainability of the Clinical Informatics Subspecialty. Details are reported later on in this issue.
In this issue we also report on a milestone in ABPM’s efforts to raise awareness of Preventive Medicine Specialties! In February, ACGME tentatively approved ABPM’s request to list each of the three ABPM Specialties (Aerospace Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and Public Health and General Preventive Medicine) separately on its website. All three Specialties will remain under one common Review Committee. ACGME will post the updated program requirements on its website for a period of public review and comment, after which the program requirements will be submitted to the ACGME Board of Directors for its final review in June 2022.
While a seemingly small change, this will provide greater visibility for the individual Specialties. Coupled with Medscape’s recently published 2022 Physician Burnout & Depression Report which found that Preventive Medicine physicians reported the lowest rates of burnout and depression, ABPM is well-positioned to advocate for the attractive career options Preventive Medicine can provide, and we’ll continue spreading that message!
As you may know, ABPM is moving forward in its transition from MOC to a new Continuing Certification Program (CCP) and as part of that transition, we’ve been piloting a longitudinal assessment program (LAP) with our Clinical Informatics Diplomates. We just finished the first year of the LAP Pilot and we’re pleased to report that nearly 85% of the questions were rated “very” or “somewhat” relevant by participants. We’re encouraged to have a strong foundation of relevant content upon which to build the final LAP and we’re looking forward to sharing details of the CCP with all of you as they become available.
These strides forward make us confident about the future of not only ABPM but also Preventive Medicine. Thanks for taking the time to read this issue; it’s packed with updates and great news we’re happy to share with you. If you have any questions or comments for us, don’t hesitate to reach out. We read and respond to every message and we look forward to hearing from you!
All the Best,
Wendy E. Braund, MD, MPH, MSEd, FACPM