February 2, 2005
NCQA, ABIM to Align Requirements, Share Data; Agreement will Allow Joint Application for Maintaining Board Certification, Recognition
Agreement with American Board of Internal Medicine reduces redundancy for physicians seeking recognition from NCQA and its partners
WASHINGTON— The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) announced an agreement today that will give thousands of internists seeking to maintain their certification an opportunity to more easily earn an important additional distinction: Recognition from NCQA and its partners. Under the agreement, ABIM, at the request of its diplomates who complete a Practice Improvement Module (PIM), will send data to NCQA that will allow physicians to simultaneously renew their ABIM certificate and seek recognition from NCQA. NCQA and its partners, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, offer recognition programs in the areas of diabetes care, heart/stroke care and the adoption of practice systems and information technology. NCQA recognition qualifies physicians for many national and regional pay-for-performance efforts. Board certification is a highly respected general credential, awarded to physicians who have met rigorous standards for intensive formal training, self-assessment, and evaluation of medical knowledge, judgment, and skills.
“By aligning our requirements with ABIM, we can keep the Recognition bar high but lower the burden,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “It’s a more efficient way for us to identify top physicians and make sure they’re getting appropriate credit from their patients, partners and the community. This will open up the program to thousands of physicians who will be able to participate as a simple ‘next step’ associated with maintaining their certification.”
The agreement involves both sharing data and aligning requirements between NCQA’s Recognition programs and the self-evaluation portion of the ABIM’s maintenance of certification program. The data requirements for these programs have always been similar, but this new arrangement means doctors will have to collect such data only once and can submit it to both the ABIM and NCQA. NCQA Recognition has become increasingly desirable, as dozens of health plans nationwide now highlight recognized physicians in online and printed physician directories. Since 1990, ABIM has issued certificates with a ten-year time limit. Internists must complete a multi-step maintenance of certification process in order to retain their status as a certified doctor. Self-evaluation is one step toward maintaining certification.
“We support approaches that facilitate doctors using data for multiple purposes, including maintenance of certification and physician recognition programs,” said Daniel Duffy, M.D., Executive Vice President, American Board of Internal Medicine. “Aligning requirements and sharing data is a simple way for us to reduce burden for physicians and add value.”
To be certified by the ABIM and maintain certification, an internist must meet high standards in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for the provision of excellent care in the broad domain of internal medicine. Certification denotes that an individual doctor can be trusted to possess the up-to-date knowledge critical in a world of rapidly advancing medical treatments, knowledge, and technology.
NCQA’s Recognition programs share a similar goal: identifying physicians who demonstrate that they consistently provide high quality care in certain areas and/or who have adopted information support systems that help ensure proper care. Physicians qualify for NCQA recognition by meeting rigorous standards and/or reviewing the medical records of a sample of patients to ensure that they receive care consistent with evidence-based guidelines. Standards for the recognition programs are set by NCQA and its partners, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
Under the terms of the agreement, ABIM diplomates may receive credit toward maintenance of certification and NCQA Recognition with one data submission. This option will be built into the ABIM’s electronic, web-based self-evaluation tool called a Practice Improvement Module (PIM). If the dual-submission option is selected, physicians will be asked to provide the additional data points required for NCQA Recognition. ABIM will then forward this data to NCQA for processing. NCQA and ABIMwill initially focus on diabetes, aligning ABIM’s diabetes PIM requirements with NCQA’s Diabetes Physician Recognition program requirements. Physicians will be eligible to submit data to both programs jointly in late spring of this year.
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is the only recognized board in the specialty of internal medicine and is one of 24 certifying boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. The ABIM is an independent, not-for-profit organization whose certificates are recognized throughout the world as signifying a high level of physician competence. The ABIM establishes certification and maintenance of certification standards, including examinations and self-evaluation tools.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas and manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the tool the nation’s health plans use to measure and report on their performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.