Taking a moderate tack, the AAFP Congress of Delegates on Sept. 28 called for “ongoing meaningful change” in the American Board of Family Medicine’s process for maintenance of certification. Delegates stopped short of asking the Academy to explore alternative routes for certification or credentialing for FPs choosing not to recertify through the ABFM process.
The delegates’ action followed more than a year of negotiations between AAFP and ABFM.
“I want to point out: I am you,” Frank Kane, M.D., chair of the ABFM Board of Directors, told delegates in his report. He said he had been in private practice for more than 20 years and had served in the AAFP Congress for eight years. He named other members of the ABFM board, noting, “We are you, and you are us. Together, we’re a team.”
He said focus groups would be held during the Assembly to obtain FPs’ input on options for the Maintenance of Certification Program for Family Physicians, or MC-FP.
“Like all families, the ABFM and AAFP have disagreements,” said Kane. “Whenever we stumble as we chart the unmapped territories ahead, let’s support one another as healthy families do.”
Earlier this week, a reference committee heard testimony on a report from the AAFP Board of Directors and resolutions about the MC-FP process. The Congress last year asked, for example, for the MC-FP self-assessment modules, or SAMs, to be suspended “until technical and clinical content problems are adequately resolved.” Two resolutions sent to the 2005 Congress called for reducing the required number of SAMs from six to three per seven-year recertification cycle and noted that about 4,000 of more than 11,000 recertification candidates had not completed a SAM by the first deadline of Dec. 31, 2004.
Alternate delegate Karen Mitchell, M.D., of Southfield, Mich., a member of the ABFM board, told the reference committee the ABFM had made more than 20 significant changes to the SAMs and was looking at various options. “I’m opposed to changing the SAMs to three per cycle. I think that’s too restrictive. We need more flexibility,” Mitchell said.
The reference committee said in its report, “Although concerns persist with regard to frequency, cost, time and Internet access, testimony was also heard that many improvements” have been made in MC-FP and more are being considered.
Delegates voted for the AAFP to “continue to educate and inform our members about the advantages of maintaining board certification."
