Research Purpose

The purpose of ABIM’s research program is to evaluate the effectiveness of ABIM’s mission ­ enhancing the quality of health care by certifying internists and subspecialists who demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for excellent patient care. Through this research ABIM’s seek evidence to inform and enhance our future certification programs.  ABIM researchers use Kirkpatrick’s framework to guide their work including these four facets.

1. Examining Diplomate Satisfaction through opinion surveys, analysis of comments, focus groups and interviews.
2. Understanding Diplomate Knowledge Improvement through examining the trajectory of learning over time within continuous programs and by demographics and workforce trends.
3. Ensuring High Quality Assessments through key metrics (reliability, reproducibility, and validity studies) as well as analysis of processes such as blueprinting, item performance, differential item functioning, standard setting, scoring, and data forensics that are critical to the Science of Assessment.
4. Performing Health Outcomes Research by collaborating with research partners on the value of certification and continuing certification assessment programs. The goal is to examine the relationships between physician performance on cognitive assessments and their patients’ health outcomes.

Discover important information for both physicians and the patients they serve. These research pages describe many studies showing that patients whose doctors demonstrate more medical knowledge and judgment through certification and continuing certification programs have a better prognosis on a host of outcomes of patient care, like mortality, cost, process and quality of care measures, and physician state medical board disciplinary actions.