From all of us at ABPM, we wish you and yours a happy and healthy New Year! We are again thankful for our Diplomates, so many of whom have been working to characterize this pandemic and to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 virus on the nation and the world.
We are very excited to start off with some excellent news. The ABPM, along with the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) recently announced the American Board of Medical Specialties’ (ABMS) approval of a four-year extension to the practice pathway for Addiction Medicine! This means that physicians with substantial work experience who have not completed an ACGME-accredited fellowship in Addiction Medicine will be able to apply for the Addiction Medicine subspecialty certification exam through 2025. We are immensely grateful for ASAM’s partnership and dedication in assisting us in achieving this important initiative!
We’re also looking forward to the ABMS’ updated standards for continuing certification. You may know that as a result of the year-end surge in COVID the ABMS was forced to delay the formal release of a draft of its proposed Standards for Continuing Certification for comment until April 2021. After the public comment period, ABMS will incorporate feedback into a final document to be reviewed by its Board of Directors at its mid-year meeting in August 2021. ABMS requires that its Member Boards, including ABPM, base their programs on the final standards. The ABPM, in concert with our specialty societies, has already done substantial work on the framework and details of our continuing certification program that is focused on the best interest of our Diplomates and the public. And we continue to monitor ABMS’ final standards in order to meet their overall requirements, as well. We’ll keep you in the loop with updates on this very important issue, so be sure to follow the ABPM on LinkedIn and check your Physician Portal regularly so that you can receive the latest updates directly from ABPM.
The continuing certification program is a part of ABPM’s larger strategic plan, which will be a major topic of discussion for ABPM’s Board of Director’s in January. At the annual meeting we will lay out what ABPM should look like in five years and, specifically, consider how we can better fulfill our mission and purpose and become a more effective organization. Thank you for your responses to the various surveys issued by ABPM during 2020. Your critical feedback will be a key focus for these discussions, shaping the future for your ABPM.
Also at the January meeting, we will officially welcome our new members: Dr. Laurie Gesell, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Sub-Board Chair, and Mr. George Roberts, Public Member! We are very excited to work with them. To help you get to know them a little better, this issue features profiles of both Dr. Gesell and Mr. Roberts!
As you’ll see in the new “Highlights from LinkedIn” section in this issue, we know you’re all doing great work and we want more people to know about it! ABPM wants to highlight your accomplishments and share them with the Preventive Medicine community. Have you or has your work been featured in a publication? Have you reached an important milestone in your career? Let us know by sending us a note. We look forward to hearing from you!
As always, thank you for all your work in our fantastic specialty of Preventive Medicine. And thanks for reading!
Respectfully,
Hernando “Joe” Ortega, Jr., MD, MPH