In an effort to reduce the burden faced by internists challenged to measure and report performance data, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and American College of Physicians (ACP) announced today that ABIM will allow internists and subspecialists in internal medicine who are enrolled in ABIM's Maintenance of Certification program to use performance data, provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) through its Physician Voluntary Reporting Program (PVRP), to receive credit toward meeting ABIM's requirement for "self-assessment of practice performance." Linking the PVRP to ABIM's recertification program offers internists across the country an option that should reduce the measurement burden that they face. At the same time, it will create a context for the CMS PVRP data that should accelerate improvement and lead to better outcomes for Medicare enrollees.

ABIM's Maintenance of Certification program requires that internists and subspecialists measure important aspects of their practice performance. Diplomates (ABIM Certificate holders) typically do this by entering clinical data abstracted from medical records into an ABIM Practice Improvement Module (PIM), which guides them through a process of analysis and improvement planning that includes evaluation of practice systems. ABIM's Self-Directed Practice Improvement Module (PIM) allows diplomates to enter clinical results provided by CMS to help them improve areas in which CMS feedback indicates opportunity for improvement. This eliminates the need for physicians to review medical records--and assures that physicians link those results to the process of quality improvement. Diplomates who complete the PIM receive credit toward their Maintenance of Certification requirement, as well as Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits.

"This arrangement reduces redundancy it permits data to be collected once, but used for multiple purposes and provides additional incentives beyon
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Contact: Lori Bookbinder, ABIM
lbookbinder@abim.org
215-606-4122
American College of Physicians
16-Mar-2006

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