ABMS Announces the Creation of a Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Award
Call for Nominations made for award which will recognize extraordinary contributions to quality and patient safety

CHICAGO – July 21, 2011 – The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the organization overseeing the certification of physician specialists in the United States, announces the creation of an award for a distinguished national leader in Health Care

Quality and Patient Safety.  The ABMS Board of Directors approved this new award at its June 22 meeting and the first Call for Nominations for the award went out July 5.

This award will be given for extraordinary national or international contributions to the fields of quality and patient safety, with a particular focus on physician performance, professionalism and the improvement of clinical performance.  The ABMS Board of Directors will be seeking nominations annually, but may choose not to make an annual award.

The ABMS Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Award is one of three awards given for superior career achievement by ABMS.  ABMS’ other awards are the ABMS Derrick T. Vail, MD, Award, which recognizes extraordinary national or international contributions to the broad field of medical specialty education, evaluation or certification, and the ABMS Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes extraordinary contributions to the medical specialty certification process.

]“ABMS wishes to acknowledge those individuals who have significantly contributed to knowledge or practice of health care quality improvement or patient safety,” said Kevin B. Weiss, MD, ABMS President and CEO.  “Patient safety is a big motivation behind many of our initiatives, including the ABMS Maintenance of Certification® program, which evaluates a physician’s continuing competence through a program of lifelong learning and ongoing self-assessment and reflects a physician’s commitment to achieving quality clinical outcomes for patients in a responsive, patient-focused setting.”

Throughout its 75-plus year history, ABMS has been a strong advocate for patient safety.  In addition to the ABMS MOC® program, ABMS continuously promotes the importance of Board Certification to the public and how patients experience fewer medical errors, better communication and quality clinical outcomes when they choose a Board Certified physician.  Earlier this year, ABMS launched www.CertificationMatters.org, a patient-friendly website where the public can check for free if their doctor is Board Certified by an ABMS Member Board.  ABMS also has implemented a Patient Safety Improvement Program, which serves as a professional resource for health care personnel to learn safety essentials and implementation methods that can improve patient safety in any clinical setting.

Nominations for the first ABMS Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Award, along with a letter of support, curriculum vitae and other supporting materials, must be submitted by August 31 to Ms. JoAnn Ciatto, ABMS Director of Member Services, at jciatto@abms.org.

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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 make up the ABMS Board Enterprise and cover over 150
medical specialties and subspecialties 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.