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BackABIM Announces New Tools for Internists to Enhance Quality of Care
Philadelphia, PA, February 21, 2006 – The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) recently introduced four new Practice Improvement Modules that will enable general internists, gastroenterology specialists and infectious disease specialists to review and enhance the medical care that they provide.
Practice Improvement Modules for Preventive and Chronic Conditions
Practice Improvement Modules (PIMs) are computer-based tools that enable physicians to conduct a confidential self-evaluation of the medical care that they provide. Each module offers an opportunity for physicians to review current clinical practice guidelines and their own practice. The Colonoscopy, Hepatitis C and HIV, preventive and chronic condition modules, provide for practice-based learning and improvement.
The Colonoscopy PIM can help ensure that essential steps are taken from pre-procedure care through prompt communication of biopsy results.
"The colonoscopy PIM, based on evidenced-based guidelines developed by three gastroenterology societies, provides a valuable opportunity for practicing physicians to assess their quality in performing this important procedure," said Philip Katz, MD, Chair, Division of Gastroenterology at Albert Einstein Medical Center. “We plan to use this module with our fellows in gastroenterology as an effective method to engage them in quality improvement."
Physicians who provide care to the more than 2.5 million Americans who are thought to have hepatitis C can use the Hepatitis C PIM to identify areas in which the care they deliver can be improved, from monitoring therapy to ensuring optimal preventive care.
"The Hepatitis C PIM reflects the issues that are central to the care of patients with hepatitis C — identification of risk factors, diagnostic testing, the role of liver biopsy, and decision making regarding therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Physicians who treat patients with hepatitis C will find the material current and relevant to their practices," said Lawrence Friedman, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine, Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. "The PIM will serve as a valuable tool for assessing whether a practitioner is covering all the important bases."
The HIV PIM guides physicians through a review of the care provided to the more than one million Americans currently living with HIV/AIDS to identify the gaps between current care and ideal care, leading to better outcomes for their patients.
"The ABIM's Practice Improvement Module is an important advance in HIV-related patient care," said Michael Saag, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director Center for AIDS Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham and current director of the ABIM. "We have been using practice improvement metrics in our clinic for over five years. It allows us to track patient outcomes in our clinic and assess compliance with established guidelines in HIV care on a provider basis. This is clearly the future of medical care in the United States."
Self-Directed Practice Improvement Module
"The ABIM takes diplomate feedback very seriously and in our effort to reduce physician burden of data collection to measure practice performance, we have created the Self-Directed Practice Improvement Module," said Daniel Duffy, MD, Executive Vice President of the ABIM. "This module allows diplomates to use performance measures provided by external groups such as QIOs or health plans to complete their practice performance assessment requirement. This PIM asks for five measures from a sample of at least 10 patients and helps the diplomate develop a quality improvement plan to improve one of these measures."
Some physicians already receive information on their practice performance from health plans, state quality improvement organizations, physician recognition programs, or medical society quality improvement programs. These data can readily be used as the basis for designing and implementing a practice improvement plan uniquely suited to the practice. The Self-Directed PIM makes it easy to enter the data, design the improvement plan, and report on the changes made to the practice.
Data collected and analyzed through these modules contain no personal identifiers and the entire process is fully compliant with HIPAA regulations. In addition to credit towards ABIM's Maintenance of Certification program, physicians who complete a module will also receive Category One Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits.
ABIM's first PIM, introduced in March 2003, focused on preventive cardiology. Since then, the ABIM has developed additional PIMs for diabetes, general preventive services, asthma, hypertension and care of the vulnerable elderly. The ABIM is currently developing additional modules focusing on comprehensive care, care of patients on mechanical ventilation, care for patients with osteoporosis and modules focusing on communications between physicians and patients and amongst physicians.
For additional information regarding ABIM's Practice Improvement Modules, visit Improve your Practice With PIMS.
About ABIM
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that grants board certification—a well accepted marker of physician quality—to internists and subspecialists. Certification is a rigorous, comprehensive program for evaluating physician knowledge, skills and attitudes to assure both patients and payers that a physician has achieved competence for practice in a given field. Individual physician certification results may be found at www.abim.org.
