American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Member Boards’ assessments help board certified physicians and medical specialists (known as diplomates) gain medical knowledge that directly impacts patient care. Just ask them.
Member Boards routinely seek feedback from diplomates about their continuing certification programs, and in particular their assessments. The boards want to ensure that their programs are perceived as contributing to diplomates’ ability to provide optimal patient care. The following examples provide a glimpse into the diplomates’ experiences with the assessments and their opinions about the value they carry.
In quarterly surveys of family physicians participating in the American Board of Family Medicine’s (ABFM) Family Medicine Certification Longitudinal Assessment (FMCLA) between 2020 and 2024, nearly all (99%) rated it as being relevant to the specialty. When it comes to learning, 96 percent used the references and reviewed item critiques. Most (87%) diplomates reported making changes to their practice because of participating in FMCLA. Additionally, 92 percent reported experiencing less anxiety participating in FMCLA compared with taking the one-day examination, which supports physician well-being.
A recent study from ABFM found that doctors who chose the FMCLA scored higher than expected compared with those who took the traditional one-day exam. Using data from 2008 to 2023, researchers built a model to predict exam performance and discovered that FMCLA participants scored an average of 39 points higher than predicted, and some high performers exceeded predictions by up to 100 points. In contrast, physicians who were predicted to fail tended to score lower than expected. The study suggests that the FMCLA’s spaced learning format and immediate feedback may help improve knowledge retention and exam performance over time. The study was published online on May 7, 2025, in the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions.
Many diplomates participating in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA®) report learning and changing patient care due to their participation, according to a survey published in the September issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Among the survey’s key findings, 73 percent of general internists participating in the LKA reported that it had led to changes or intended changes to patient care. The study also reports findings related to physician learning:
- Overall, 95 percent of diplomates reported learning from answering LKA questions.
- More than 70 percent said they were motivated to study further based on performance feedback on the assessment.
- Most notably, diplomates scoring in the bottom quartile were 30 percentage points more likely to report that the LKA feedback motivated them to study more compared to those in the top quartile.
The survey results were obtained from 1,451 general internists who enrolled in the LKA in 2022, the first year it was available, and continue to participate in the program.
A fourth quarter 2024 survey of diplomates participating in the ABIM LKA yielded some similar findings. The survey, which had a 61% response rate, revealed that:
- 94 percent claimed they learned from receiving the correct answer and the rationale;
- 76 percent claimed they found the progress reports on their performance useful;
- 85 percent plan to continue with the LKA; only 2.6 percent disagreed;
- 70 percent would recommend the LKA to a colleague; only 9.7 percent disagreed; and
- 49 percent have made or planned a change to their patient care based on participation in LKA.
In addition, higher scores on ABIM’s LKA were associated with reduced post-hospitalization death and readmissions, according to a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers analyzed data from more than 4,000 hospitalists who participated in the LKA in 2022 and 2023, focusing on outcomes for more than 260,000 hospitalizations of Medicare fee-for-service patients aged 66 and older. Scores from their first year of LKA participation were compared with the outcomes of their patients seen in the two years prior to participation in the LKA, specifically looking at seven-day mortality and seven-day readmissions. The study found that physicians scoring in the top 25 percent of the quarterly LKA Progress Report demonstrated an 8 percent lower seven-day patient mortality rate compared with those in the bottom 25 percent (a difference of 4.1 deaths per 1,000 hospitalizations). The authors also found a 5 percent reduction in seven-day readmission rates for patients of physicians scoring in the top versus the bottom 25 percent (a difference of 3.1 readmissions per 1,000 hospitalizations).
Diplomates of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology (ABAI) have consistently provided positive feedback about the Continuous Assessment Program (CAP) since its launch in 2018. Nearly all the diplomates (97.1%) responding to a post-block survey sent between 2019 and 2022 strongly agreed or agreed that the content is relevant to their practice while 92.9% strongly agreed or agreed that the exercise helped identify knowledge or practice gaps. Many respondents (73.6%) strongly agreed or agreed that they planned to institute practice changes based on the knowledge they acquired.
In 2024, ABAI published an update about CAP in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology describing this feedback data in detail, noting that this feedback is used to inform the key validation process that discards poor performing items and to develop training that improves item writing and the review process as part of ABAI’s commitment to continuous quality improvement.
Diplomates of the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (ABOHNS) raved about CertLink® during the 2024 end-of-year survey, with 95 percent of respondents who strongly agreed or agreed that they were satisfied with the platform. Moreover, 95 percent of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that CertLink helped them stay current in their specialty, 91 percent indicated it helped them address their knowledge gaps, and 88 percent reported that it helped them provide better patient care. Changes that they plan to make because of participating in CertLink include reviewing additional literature, online content, or book chapters related to content (54%); reviewing Clinical Practice Guidelines and Consensus Statements (35%); sharing knowledge with other colleagues (30%); and changing patient management (30%). Additionally, 86 percent of diplomates strongly agreed or agreed that the quality of questions assessed walking around knowledge used in everyday practice and 95 percent indicated that the question difficulty was appropriate.
The American Board of Surgery (ABS) received a lot of positive feedback from diplomates responding to the 2024 ABS Continuous Certification Assessment post-assessment surveys. While 74.8 percent of all general surgery and subspecialty (vascular, pediatrics, critical care, complex general surgical oncology, and hand) diplomates believe that the Continuous Certification Assessment provided a fair assessment of knowledge, 74 percent believe that it was relevant to their practice. Most respondents (81.7%) found the references useful in helping to find answers to questions when they did not know the answers and 81.5 percent found the rationales useful in helping understand the correct answers. Many respondents (74.8%) believe that preparing for and taking this assessment will improve how they practice and 69.3 percent plan to change something in their practice based on what they learned from the assessment.
Nearly all (96%) diplomates participating in the American Board of Dermatology’s (ABD) continuing certification program have enrolled in CertLink, which up until now has been a pilot program for ABD. End-of-year survey responses from 2022 to 2024 (completed by an average of 18% of participants) show overwhelming satisfaction with it. In the last three years, more than 90 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they are satisfied with CertLink. Additionally, more than 90 percent agreed or strongly agreed that CertLink has helped them address knowledge gaps and stay current in their specialty. More than 87 percent of respondents reported that CertLink has helped them provide better care for their patients.
Additionally, the ABD’s focused Practice Improvement (fPI) program receives high marks from dermatologists in a recent study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Almost all (99%) of the 7,378 dermatologists who completed about 19,143 fPI modules between 2016 and 2023 rated them as relevant. They represent 48.8 percent of all current ABD diplomates. Care gaps requiring improvement efforts and performance remeasurement occurred in 2,919 (15.2%) completed modules. Diplomates reported care improvements resulting from completing modules in 8,397 instances (43.9%), and improved patient outcomes in at least one patient 5,310 times (27.7%). Finally, diplomates stated they would recommend fPI modules to peers 18,633 times (97.3%).
Board certified anesthesiologists view certification as a marker of excellence, the gold-standard of knowledge and skills in the specialty that is highly valued by colleagues, patients, employers, and the public, according to the American Board of Anesthesiology’s (ABA) bi-annual Continuing Certification Experience Survey. Distributed to all ABA diplomates in early December 2024, a total of 1,207 diplomates responded to the survey between Dec. 2, 2024 and Jan. 28, 2025. Key takeaways include the following:
- 78.5 percent of respondents agree that MOCA Minute is highly valuable for its role in keeping medical knowledge current;
- 73.4 percent are satisfied with the value MOCA brings to their practice; and
- 66.5 percent of respondents find board certification to be very valuable to their practice.
The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) houses data from thousands of pediatricians who have participated in MOCA-Peds since it was launched in 2019 in a dashboard on its website. ABP reviews scores, usage statistics, evaluation survey data, and more with the goal of evaluating the success of MOCA-Peds. In 2023, the majority of respondents (90.7%) said yes when asked if they learned, refreshed, or enhanced their knowledge by participating in MOCA-Peds, up 3 percent from the previous year. When following up, 69.5 percent of those said they had already made a practice change, reflecting a 1.6 percent increase from the prior year.
Overall, general pediatricians found the questions more relevant to their own practice than pediatric subspecialists did for their specialty. This is likely due to some specialization within the subspecialty. Pediatric subspecialists have consistently rated General Pediatrics (GP) questions they have answered as relevant to GP. Specifically, 72.1 percent agreed or strongly agreed that MOCA-Peds questions were relevant to their practice. While 86.7 percent of GP respondents believe the questions in the GP version were relevant, 73.8 percent of pediatric subspecialists found questions in the subspecialty version relevant to their subspecialty.
Approximately 82.4 percent of survey participants stated they agree or strongly agree that the question difficulty in MOCA-Peds was appropriate. While 67.7 percent rated the content quality as very good or excellent, another 24.1 percent rated it as good. Only 8.2 percent rated it as poor or fair. Many participants (60.4%) are highly likely to recommend MOCA-Peds to other pediatricians.
In 2024, the American Board of Urology (ABU) sought diplomate feedback about its recently launched Continuing Urologic Certification (CUC) program, which consists of three learning components – Knowledge Exposure (new concepts and guideline updates), Knowledge Reinforcement (a memory challenge of basic urologic knowledge), and Knowledge Assessment (identification of relevant knowledge gaps).
Diplomates responded positively to the Knowledge Exposure activity. Survey results showed that more than
- 90 percent agreed the selected articles were relevant and contributed to enhanced learning;
- 75 percent reported exploring additional content beyond the assigned journal article;
- 80 percent agreed the activity did not interfere with professional or personal responsibilities; and
- 90 percent indicated that the information gained would support their clinical practice.
Diplomates found the Knowledge Reinforcement activity highly valuable. Survey results showed that
- More than 85 percent agreed the questions were relevant to their practice and enhanced learning;
- More than 80 percent agreed the activity did not disrupt their professional or personal responsibilities; and
- 95 percent preferred this activity over the traditional secure 10-year exam.
Diplomates showed strong support for the Knowledge Assessment activity’s clinical relevance. Survey results showed that
- More than 90 percent found the questions to be clinically relevant; and
- 85 percent agreed the assessment allowed them to demonstrate their ability to manage patients effectively.
On a 2023 satisfaction survey for the American Board of Radiology’s (ABR) Online Longitudinal Assessment (OLA), more than 76 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that OLA helped them identify and remediate clinical knowledge gaps. Immediately after an OLA question is answered, the participant is provided with the correct answer, a short rationale, and a reference. These formative elements are often cited by diplomates as one of the most appreciated aspects of OLA. Diplomates also appreciate the learning that occurs when they answer a question incorrectly. Every OLA question has a variant, a question similar in scope and content. If the diplomate incorrectly answers the first in the pair, they can review the accompanying rationale for the correct answer and, if desired, pursue more information in the provided reference. The variant question is administered three or more weeks later to directly address the knowledge gap and reinforce the teaching point. More than 1.5 million variants have been administered, and the percentage correct for those questions is greater than 75 percent. In addition, OLA participants have access to their last 250 answered OLA questions, which allows them to sort and review them to easily determine if they may have knowledge gaps with specific content areas.
As these examples illustrate and diplomates acknowledge, Member Boards’ assessments are effective tools that support learning across the specialties. Based on their participation, diplomates have gained knowledge, filled knowledge gaps, and made changes that impact patient care.
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