Approved Quality Improvement Pathway
Health care organizations offering robust quality improvement (QI) activities can submit them to ABIM for approval in the Approved Quality Improvement (AQI) pathway. The AQI pathway grants Self-Evaluation of Practice Performance points to diplomates participating in external QI activities.
ABIM approves structured QI activities that:
- Focus on clinical topics related to a national priority, regional initiative or local gap in patient care and relevant to ABIM board certified physicians.
- Utilize nationally recognized and/or evidence-based performance measures.
- Identify specific organizational- and activity-level goals and objectives.
- Incorporate robust QI resources and/or tools directly related to the program objectives.
- Require sufficient and active participation by physicians in all stages of the activity.
- Include a strong infrastructure and resources to support and monitor the activity.
QI activities currently approved through the AQI Pathway.
To Submit an Activity for Approval
- Review the requirements carefully.
- E-mail qualityimprovement@abim.org for an application (as of June 1, 2012, version 4.0 will be the only version accepted).
- Submit completed applications via e-mail to qualityimprovement@abim.org by the appropriate deadline listed below. ABIM reviews a limited number of applications on a first-come, first-served basis.
Application Deadlines:
- March 1 for June approval
- June 1 for September approval
- September 1 for December approval
- December 1 for March approval
The review and approval process takes approximately 12 weeks. During this time, ABIM may request additional written information.
Fees
- There is a non-refundable application fee of $1,250 for each activity submitted. ABIM will invoice you once your application has been assigned to a review cycle.
- There is a non-refundable renewal fee of $800 applicable once the activity's two-year approval term has expired.
Appeals
- Written feedback will be provided for all denied applications. Requests for phone counseling or conference calls with reviewers cannot be accommodated at this time.
- Applications that are denied may be revised and resubmitted once. Subsequent resubmissions will be subject to the current AQI requirements and an additional application fee.