Responding to criticism about healt...

Responding to criticism about health care quality in the United States, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) unfolded a program that centers in succession maintenance of certification to boost confidence in the quality of physicians. Maintenance of certification, which is required of all board-certified physicians in the United States, is intended to continuously measure the competencies of practicing physicians in each specialty. Each ABMS member board will administer a maintenance of certification combination of parts to form a whole tailored to its diplomates. The American Board of Family Practice (ABFP) will use a four-part framework to measure physician competencies from one side of to the other the seven-year certification period. The four constitutings are professionalism, self-assessment, cognitive expertise, and practice performance. Physicians who certify or re-certify in 2003 will be the first to pierce the maintenance of certification program. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the ABFP are collaborating in succession various elements of maintenance of certification to ease transition to the modern system and to maximize the opportunities it not past nor futures for improving patient care.

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group