The pathology milestones and the next accreditation system.

Context: In the late 1990s, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education developed the Outcomes Project and the 6 general competencies with the intent to improve the outcome of graduate medical education in the United States. The competencies were used as the basis for developing learning goals and objectives and tools to evaluate residents' performance. By the mid-2000s the stakeholders in resident education and the general public felt that the Outcomes Project had fallen short of expectations.

Senior pathology resident in-service examination scores correlate with outcomes of the American Board of Pathology certifying examinations.

The Resident In-Service Examination (RISE) addresses 1 area of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Outcome Project; RISE results demonstrate progressive attainment of pathology knowledge during training. We compared RISE scores with primary pathology board certification success for residents graduating in 2008 and 2009. Overall RISE and nearly all sectional scores in anatomic and clinical pathology were significantly higher for residents passing all certifying examinations at the first attempt vs residents who failed any examination.

Certification and maintenance of certification: updates from the American Board of Pathology.

The American Board of Pathology continues to update the certification process to ensure that all candidates have appropriate training and credentials and meet the competency requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The maintenance of certification process, instituted in 2006, has gone through 2 reporting cycles; and the American Board of Pathology is preparing for administration of the first maintenance of certification examination in 2014. This article updates the pathology community on these changes.

Certification from the American Board of Pathology: getting it and keeping it.

In the last 5 years, there have been significant changes in the process of obtaining (and maintaining) certification in anatomic and/or clinical pathology and in pathology subspecialties. These changes include the elimination of the requirement for a "credentialing year" with its attendant "double class" of residents; the implementation of a mandatory maintenance-of-certification program for all persons certified by the American Board of Pathology, Tampa, Fla, on or after January 1, 2006; and the alterations in format and manner of grading for the certifying examinations. This article updates the pathology community regarding these changes and provides references where candidates and diplomates can find the most recent information regarding all aspects of certification and maintenance of certification.

Reference test review by pathology house staff: a cost-containment strategy for the clinical laboratory.

In this era of fiscal responsibility in health care, new strategies are evolving to decrease costs in the clinical laboratory. At our institution, one such strategy implemented in 1994 consisted of the review by pathology housestaff of all send-out tests that cost more than $75 to ensure that an appropriate diagnostic test hierarchy was being used and that clerical misorders were corrected. Throughout the first fiscal year this system was implemented, the annual institutional reference laboratory costs decreased by 10% ($24,784), and the number of send-out tests decreased by 23% (2,707 tests).