ABIM's Composite Scoring Method Allows Physicians to Compare Performance to Peers

(Philadelphia, PA), Physicians who complete the American Board of Internal Medicine's ABIM PIM Practice Improvement Modules® in Diabetes and Hypertension can now receive specific feedback about how they perform compared to their peers through composite scoring.

ABIM PIMs are Web-based tools that guide physicians through the collection of patient and practice infrastructure data to identify gaps in care and ultimately implement a quality improvement plan for their practice. ABIM's Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program requires physicians to complete a quality improvement activity, and PIMs are one way to fulfill that requirement.

Composite scoring is the aggregation of a number of individual quality measures, such as blood pressure control and, sometimes, patient experience of care measures into an overall, comprehensive measure of clinical care. Composite scores represent a more stable estimate of a physician's performance in practice than any one individual quality measure alone. ABIM convened physician experts in diabetes and hypertension to apply an innovative and scientifically sound methodology to develop the composite measures in each of those PIMs. This innovative method was described in an article published in the December 2010 issue of Evaluation in the Health Professions, and is currently under review for a patent.

"Feedback in the PIMs, using the composite and the individual quality measures that make up that composite, is designed to help physicians see how they compare to other physicians on evidence-based measures," said Eric S. Holmboe, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the American Board of Internal Medicine. "While these scores will not affect ABIM Certification, they can help physicians completing the Diabetes and Hypertension PIMs to identify areas that need improvement."

Performance feedback will be available in the Preventive Cardiology PIM within the coming months.

About ABIM
For 75 years, certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 19 subspecialties and has meant that internists have demonstrated – to their peers and to the public – that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. ABIM is not a membership society, but a non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public. ABIM is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties. For additional updates, follow ABIM on Facebook.