Remind Me Again: Physician Response to Web Surveys: The Effect of Email Reminders Across 11 Opinion Survey Efforts at the American Board of Internal Medicine from 2017 to 2019.

For survey researchers, physicians in the United States are a difficult-to-reach subgroup. The purpose of this study is to quantify the effect of email reminders on web-based survey response rates targeting physicians. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 11 American Board of Internal Medicine surveys from 2017 to 2019.

When worlds collide: Challenges to implementing communication research in community oncology practices.

Objective: During a recent trial assessing the effectiveness of an online communication training for community practice oncologists, we encountered multiple barriers.

Methods: We asked oncologists to participate through the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification program. Oncologists collected 25 Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers (CAHPS) surveys from patients and 4 audio-recorded clinic encounters.

The Association Between Maintaining American Board of Emergency Medicine Certification and State Medical Board Disciplinary Actions.

Background: In certain medical specialties, board certification is associated with a lower risk of state medical board disciplinary actions.

Objective: The association between maintaining American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) certification and state medical disciplinary actions had not been studied. This study was undertaken to determine if maintaining ABEM certification was associated with a lower risk of disciplinary action.

The American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification Examination and State Medical Board Disciplinary Actions: a Population Cohort Study.

Background: Some have questioned whether successful performance in the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program is meaningful. The association of the ABIM Internal Medicine (IM) MOC examination with state medical board disciplinary actions is unknown.

Objective: To assess risk of disciplinary actions among general internists who did and did not pass the MOC examination within 10 years of initial certification.

Does Having Open Access to Care Improve Patient Experience? A Case-Control Study.

This study investigated whether primary and specialist care practices utilizing open access to care (OA) receive better patient experience scores than propensity-matched control practices without OA. From March 2010 to December 2014, 711 physicians classified as having OA in their practice, indicated by scoring 15 or higher on the OA checklist, were propensity matched to practices without OA. Patient experience was measured with 5 composites: timely care, communication, staff quality, care coordination, and overall physician rating.

Internists' views of maintenance of certification: a stages-of-change perspective.

Introduction: Board certification has evolved from a "point-in-time" event to a process of periodic learning and reevaluation of medical competence through maintenance of certification (MOC). To better understand MOC participation, the transtheoretical model (TTM) was used to describe physicians' perceptions of MOC as a sequence of attitudinal changes.

Method: Data were from a survey of internal medicine (IM) physicians' attitudes toward periodic reevaluation through MOC.

The comprehensive care project: measuring physician performance in ambulatory practice.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of comprehensively assessing physician-level performance in ambulatory practice.

Data Sources/study Setting: Ambulatory-based general internists in 13 states participated in the assessment.

Study Design: We assessed physician-level performance, adjusted for patient factors, on 46 individual measures, an overall composite measure, and composite measures for chronic, acute, and preventive care.

Current yardsticks may be inadequate for measuring quality improvements from the medical home.

Health reform legislation grants authority for patient-centered medical home pilot projects to test changes in the way primary care is provided. There is concern that using a measurement tool to qualify medical homes that is solely based on the presence or absence of "system elements" may miss the point conceptually and lead physicians astray in attempts to transform their entire practices. To find out whether and how practice characteristics explain health care quality, we examined risk-adjusted composite measures of quality for common chronic and acute care conditions and preventive care from 202 general internists working primarily in small primary care office settings.

Where have all the general internists gone?

Background: A shortage of primary care physicians is expected, due in part to decreasing numbers of physicians entering general internal medicine (GIM). Practicing general internists may contribute to the shortage by leaving internal medicine (IM) for other careers in and out of medicine.

Objective: To better understand mid-career attrition in IM.

Performance during internal medicine residency training and subsequent disciplinary action by state licensing boards.

Background: Physicians who are disciplined by state licensing boards are more likely to have demonstrated unprofessional behavior in medical school. Information is limited on whether similar performance measures taken during residency can predict performance as practicing physicians.

Objective: To determine whether performance measures during residency predict the likelihood of future disciplinary actions against practicing internists.

A three-part model for measuring diabetes care in physician practice.

Background: To assess the psychometric properties of the three components of the Diabetes Practice Improvement Module, to compare reliabilities of composites to individual measures, and to identify associations among practice-based and patient-based measures.

Method: Data include practice systems surveys of 626 physicians, 13,965 chart audits, and 12,927 patient surveys. Quality composites were identified using factor analysis.

Who is maintaining certification in internal medicine--and why? A national survey 10 years after initial certification.

Background: The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) adopted a framework, called Maintenance of Certification (MOC), for all certifying boards to evaluate physicians' competence throughout their careers, with the goal of improving the quality of health care. The MOC participation rates of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) show that 23% of general internists and 14% of subspecialists choose not to renew their respective certificates.

Objective: To study U.