To the Editor:

It was disheartening to read the uniformly negative and pessimistic letters about the American Board of Family Medicine's maintenance of certification initiative [Letters, March 2005, page 14]. I, for one, am in favor of maintenance of certification. In fact, I would like to see us tested even more regularly. Ensuring family physicians' understanding of and adherence to accepted, evidence-based standards of care – something I trust is the thrust of the self-assessment modules – is laudable.