ABMS Appoints Interim Chief Executive;
Thanks Outgoing Kevin Weiss, MD for Service

Chicago—February 8, 2012– The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) today announced that President and CEO Kevin B. Weiss, MD will leave to take a position as Senior Vice President for Institutional Accreditation at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in March.

The executive committee appointed Lloyd B. Morgan, longtime ABMS public member on the Board of Directors, to be Interim Chief Executive.  Morgan’s deep knowledge of and commitment to ABMS’ work will provide critical continuity during the completion of the search process for a new President and CEO. 

John McCabe, MD, Chair of the Board of Directors thanked Dr. Weiss for his extraordinary service. “Kevin has helped ABMS speak forcefully for the role of specialty boards in driving improvement in the quality and safety of medical care and maintaining a laser like focus on patients and the public’s trust in the profession,” said McCabe. “We now look forward to working with Interim Chief Executive Lloyd Morgan.  Having Lloyd in this role puts ABMS in a strong position to continue its important work of advancing Board Certification and ABMS Maintenance of Certification®.”

As a longtime public board member, Morgan embodies the organization’s continued drive for high standards of care. Morgan, an active participant in the healthcare industry since 1975, played a lead role in engaging the public more fully and strengthening the role of consumers and patients in physician accountability.  He was among the first public members on the ABMS Board of Directors. 

Morgan retired as a Senior Partner with Arthur Andersen in 2000, after a 38-year career that included leadership positions in his firm’s global Healthcare Practice. In this role, Morgan directed strategic and business planning projects for major Academic Health Centers, hospitals and physician practices in the Midwest. Additionally he represented Andersen in national and international healthcare organizations. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation (NMFF) and the Duke University Health System in Durham N.C.

“I look forward to helping ABMS continue building on its recent achievements that have increased the participation of the public, and with its constituent 24 Member Boards strengthened qualifications of Board Certification and the ABMS Maintenance of Certification program.” said Morgan.

ABMS is currently engaged in an executive recruitment effort for its next President and Chief Executive Officer which it hopes to have completed by early summer.  The recruitment is centered on acquiring top leadership talent to implement a new strategic plan to ensure Board Certification and Maintenance of Certification continues to lead to physician excellence and high-quality care.

Dr. Weiss’ tenure began in 2007. Since that time, the following advances have been made to strengthen physician excellence.

• The ABMS Enhanced Public Trust Initiative to engage members of the public more fully and strengthen its role in increasing physician accountability. This includes increased numbers of public representatives on the ABMS Board of Directors and membership on all Board committees.  New committees are in place to strengthen ethics, professionalism, and public health policy.
  
  
• Enrollment in the ABMS MOC programs sponsored by the 24 Member Boards has grown to over 300,000 U.S. physicians.
  
  
• The development of support to assist Member Boards in developing their Maintenance of Certification programs, which make continuous learning into a central principle of physicians’ ongoing certification in their specialties.  In 2009, the ABMS Board voted in higher standards for MOC, which included developmental standards for a patient safety curriculum and for patient and peer surveys.  All of these developments were consonant with the organization’s commitment to the ABMS Enhanced Public Trust Initiative.
  
  
• A public education effort called “Certification Matters,” which includes the website www.CertificationMatters.org that is strengthening access and awareness among consumers about their physicians’ participation in MOC programs and why patients should care. 
  
  
• A budget that more than doubled from $7 million to $18 million, including major increases in research grants and contracts to the ABMS Research and Education Foundation; increased the staff from 20 to more than 50; and relocated its offices from Evanston to its current quarters in downtown Chicago, IL.
  
  
• Successful work with Congress and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to make MOC participation one of the ways physicians can demonstrate continuous learning and meet the requirements of the new Physician Quality Reporting System.
  
  
• Initiated planning for the first international program for physician specialty certification, based on the experience of the ABMS Member Boards.

Study after study shows patients get better outcomes across specialties from physicians certified by ABMS Member Boards: lower mortality rates among heart attack patients, better prenatal care, better results in colon resections, and more. “These results stem from an ABMS Board Certification process that goes beyond a single exam to ensure physicians’ practices keep pace with patient needs throughout their career,” said McCabe.

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About ABMS
For more than 75 years, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has been the
medical organization overseeing physician certification in the United States. It assists its
24 Member Boards in their efforts to develop and implement educational and professional standards for the evaluation and certification of physician specialists. ABMS Member Boards provide physician certification information to ABMS for its certification verification service programs. ABMS is recognized by the key health care credentialing accreditation entities as a primary equivalent source of Board Certification data for medical specialists. Patients can visit www.CertificationMatters.org or call toll-free (866) ASK-ABMS to see if their physician is Board Certified by an ABMS Member Board.  For more information about ABMS, visit www.abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

The 24 Member Boards that comprise the ABMS Board Enterprise and certify nearly 800,000 physicians include the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, American Board of Anesthesiology, American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, American Board of Dermatology, American Board of Emergency Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Medical Genetics, American Board of Neurological Surgery, American Board of Nuclear Medicine, American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Board of Ophthalmology, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, American Board of Otolaryngology, American Board of Pathology, American Board of Pediatrics, American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American Board of Plastic Surgery, American Board of Preventive Medicine, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, American Board of Radiology, American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery and American Board of Urology.