The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Portfolio Program™ Sponsors are embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) quality improvement (QI) projects across multiple specialties.
To date, Sponsors have initiated more than 500 QI activities to address a host of health and health care disparities. Projects range from Creating a Culture of Respect and Inclusion to Improving Flu Vaccines among African Americans and An Equity Centered Approach to Improving Colorectal Screening Rates.
Teena Nelson, MHA, Manager of the ABMS Portfolio Program, believes that number is much higher because many Sponsors incorporate DEI in various QI activities. “For example, there are 1,200 QI activities related to Access to Care, many of which encompass DEI-related issues even though they don’t address DEI directly,” she said. Also, since 2022, the state of California requires continuing medical education (CME) providers to include implicit bias training in addition to cultural and linguistic competency into their content. Many Sponsors are in California and offer continuing certification credit along with CME credit for QI initiatives. “Because of their state mandate, our Sponsors in California are incorporating DEI efforts into all types of QI initiatives, and we have very strong participation from our West Coast Sponsors,” Nelson added. To date, they have hosted hundreds of QI activities that nearly 6,000 physicians have participated in. Continuing certification credit has been awarded approximately 12,000 times indicating that many physicians have participated in more than one QI activity.
Physicians certified by participating ABMS Member Boards who engage in this DEI work are eligible for continuing certification credit when they meet meaningful participation requirements as defined by the individual Portfolio Program Sponsor. A parallel program helps physician assistants receive credit from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. Learn how to become a Portfolio Program Sponsor.
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