By Marta J. Petersen, MD*
We’ve been throwing a lot of information at you over the past few months. Amid your busy practices – and lives – these messages may become confusing. So, just like a team roster helps you keep up with the players in a football or soccer game, we’re providing a list of definitions to keep you on top of your game in the world of Certification.
ABD – The American Board of Dermatology, the non-profit, independent organization that allows dermatologists to establish high standards for the specialty, and to certify the dermatologists who achieve those standards. (FYI: The ABD does not publish its own journal or provide practice management resources. The American Academy of Dermatology and other subspecialty organizations do that work. We are separate organizations.)
ABD Certification – A declaration from the American Board of Dermatology that you meet the highest standards for dermatologic practice. You earned this recognition by successfully completing accredited training, passing certifying exams, and continuing to learn and gain experience in your specialty. You must have a state medical license, to be certified, but requirements for board certification are more comprehensive. That piece of paper you may have framed on your office wall is your “certificate.”
Annual Fee – The ABD charges every certified dermatologist an annual fee of $150 for participation in Continuing Certification. That covers everything, including CertLink, an article library, continuing medical education credits, focused practice improvement activities, ways to promote your certification status (including a personalized electronic CertMark), and access to eight full-time support staff members.
CertLink – A longitudinal assessment platform that provides certified dermatologists with 13 multiple-choice questions a quarter. This activity supports your learning by allowing you to use resources (including books, websites, and articles), just as you would in the clinic. CertLink provides you with access to many of the most important journal articles in the specialty and asks article-based questions to ensure understanding of key points.
Continuing Certification Program – This program comprises all the things you need to do to keep your certification current. The activities demonstrate to your patients, employers, payers, colleagues – and yourself – that you have the knowledge and experience to provide high quality care. They also show that you care enough to keep learning as new treatments, best practices, and even new diseases and conditions emerge. Most of these requirements are met through active CertLink participation, but also by completing one practice improvement activity every five years.
The Continuing Certification Program replaced the older, more complicated “Maintenance of Certification,” or MOC Program. Many dermatologists tell us they much prefer the Continuing Certification Program – in which CertLink has replaced the high-stakes, stress-inducing proctored exam.
Diplomate – Yep. There’s an “e” on the end and it’s pronounced DIP-luh-MATE. The word refers to a physician or specialist who is board certified by one or more of the 24 Member Boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
Practice Improvement (PI) – The poet Maya Angelou said, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." That sums up the ABD’s practice improvement requirement. To meet this requirement, you must complete an exercise that measures one aspect of your practice against new or accepted standards. By doing so, you learn how to serve your patients better – or you’re reassured you’re already following best practices. There are many activities, some sponsored by institutions, that qualify. Check with us if you are using an activity not approved by the ABD.
fPIs – You can meet your practice improvement requirement by completing an ABD “focused practice improvement (fPI)” activity, so named because the activity focuses specifically on dermatology practices. The ABD provides more than 120 fPIs, and new modules are added each year. These fPIs are included in your ABD annual fee. Check out the fPI library when you log into your ABD account on our website. Click “ABD Tools,” then “Access Focused PI Library.”
Undoubtedly, there are other unfamiliar terms we use. If anything has you confused, contact us at Communications@abderm.org.
*About the author
Dr. Petersen is the ABD Associate Executive Director for Candidate, Program, and Diplomate Relations. She is a professor of dermatology and vice chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, where she was also residency director for 20 years. She specializes in complex medical dermatology, and loves the fact that she continues to see new things in clinic after 35 years in practice!
We try to avoid jargon, but some phrases are fundamental to the process. We hope these definitions are helpful.
