Meaningful, relevant, and fun are the words physicians use to describe quality improvement (QI) projects they engage in as part of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Portfolio Program™.
Marti Taba, MD, a family physician at Hawaii Pacific Health working in Kailua, followed her passions by addressing diabetes and advanced care planning for her recent Portfolio Program QI projects. She focused on reducing the number of patients with uncontrolled A1C levels and improving A1C levels for patients with controlled diabetes. Dr. Taba also set out to increase the number of senior patients who complete advanced care planning documents. “It’s important for seniors to address this when they’re feeling well,” she said, adding, “It’s a passion of mine to help them get ready for any circumstance regarding their health.”
Not only did Dr. Taba receive continuing certification credit through the Portfolio Program, but she was able to meet the Hawaii Pacific Health accountable care organization’s (ACO) QI efforts to improve outcomes and efficiency. In fact, physicians from 16 different specialties represented in the ACO have received credit through the Portfolio Program. “It’s fun for me to work with other specialists on these QI projects,” she said. In 2024, 250 physicians earned credit, comprising one-quarter of all physicians in the ACO. “This alignment is a huge benefit for those of us in the ACO,” Dr. Taba added.
Teresa Hardisty, MD, a part-time pediatrician at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, designed her own QI project. “I needed to get some continuing certification credit, but I didn’t want to search online for projects that might not be as relevant to me, just so I could check a box,” she said.
Dr. Hardisty designed a wellness survey to use with patients to discuss lifestyle choices that can impact their health. The Be Well survey asks patients to answer eight questions about the amount of fruit and vegetables, physical activity, and hours of sleep they get daily. Based on the answers, clinicians can make recommendations about the patient’s health and provide appropriate resources. The survey is linked to the electronic health record, which enables physicians to track the information over time and follow-up, as necessary. “It plants the seed about healthy lifestyle choices and starts a conversation,” she said.
After completing the QI project for herself, Dr. Hardisty, who also serves as Director of Lifestyle Medicine, offered it to other clinicians at Sharp HealthCare. In this role, she has been integrating different lifestyle medicine strategies into the electronic health record to facilitate conversations between physicians and patients. These strategies promote healthy lifestyle choices for patients, as well as physicians and staff, she said.
Between 150 and 200 clinicians across multiple specialties have received continuing certification credit for this QI project, Dr. Hardisty noted. “I love that this is a homegrown QI project offering meaningful education that can improve the quality of care that we provide to our patients,” she said. “An unintended win is that some of the clinicians were able to nudge their own health,” Dr. Hardisty added.
Easy Process
After completing the QI project, receiving continuing certification credit was easy. For Dr. Taba, the ACO tracks the physician’s performance and at year’s end, she receives credit for the QI projects she participated in. “I just have to attest that I participated in the activities,” she said.
To create the QI project, Dr. Hardisty worked directly with the continuing medical education (CME) leaders. They met several times during a two-week period to determine how best to implement and measure the activity. Once it was rolled out to all clinicians, it was important to establish a feedback mechanism, she said. The process to receive credit was very straightforward, Dr. Hardisty added.
Physician Engagement
Although most of the QI projects submitted to the Portfolio Program are driven by organizational priorities, there is an increasing number of physicians, like Dr. Hardisty, who are bringing ideas that are specific to their practice, specialty, or department, stated Loretta Thompson, who retired as Sharp HealthCare’s Director of CME in March. “We’ve seen the overall program grow in terms of physician engagement,” she said, noting that Sharp HealthCare has been a Sponsor since 2016. Thompson attributes some of the growth to the intake process during which a CME staff member meets with the physician one on one. “I think they’ve spread the word to their colleagues that it’s a very easy process,” she said. “The other thing is that we’ve made it as simple as possible.”
Similarly, the Portfolio Program serves as a catalyst for increased physician engagement in QI as it aligns with the ACO’s goals to improve outcomes and efficiency, explained Lynn Iwamoto, MD, a neonatologist who manages the program with support from system executives and another physician leader at Hawaii Pacific Health, which also became a Sponsor in 2016. “As a value-based care program, the whole ACO is basically one giant QI project,” she said. While the ACO offers financial incentives to engage in QI, Dr. Iwamoto said that the organization wanted more intrinsic motivation, which the Portfolio Program provides. “We’re getting a lot of positive feedback, and every year more and more physicians are turning in attestation forms to earn credit,” she added.
Physicians do excellent work every day in the office as they strive to improve the quality of care they provide for their patients, Dr. Taba said. “What is unique about the Portfolio Program is that it acknowledges these efforts and offers continuing certification credit for them.”
Nobody appreciates the Portfolio Program more than Dr. Hardisty, who plans to use additional QI projects to promote wellness. “I love the flexibility of it. I love the ease of it,” she said, adding, “And I love the hands-on approach that ABMS is taking to work with clinicians to develop meaningful projects that can advance the care we provide.”
© 2025 American Board of Medical Specialties
Read the latest issue of ABMS Insights and sign up to receive future updates about board certification.
