July 01, 2019
The American Board of Medical Specialties announced today that Altarum has joined its Multi-Specialty Portfolio Program, enabling physicians who are board certified by one or more of the 18 of 24 ABMS Member Boards participating in the Portfolio Program to earn Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Improvement in Medical Practice (Part IV) credit for approved Altarum practice improvement and quality improvement activities.
Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is the leading nonprofit organization that oversees physician certification in the United States. ABMS establishes the standards its 24 Member Boards use to develop and implement educational and professional evaluation, assessment, and certification of physician specialists, helping to improve the quality of care to patients, families and communities.
Through the Portfolio Program, Altarum can now offer participating physicians throughout the country the opportunity to satisfy continuing certification program needs and improve the care of an estimated 2.5 million patients. Physician practices, health care systems, governmental departments, universities, and other health care related organizations with an interest in practice improvement and quality improvement can participate in Altarum’s activities.
“Altarum is focused on improving serious and longstanding national health care issues,” David W. Price, MD, FAAFP, FACEHP, FSACME, Executive Director of the Portfolio Program, stated in a press release issued by the ABMS. “The ability to offer continuing certification credit to physicians through our relationship will enable Altarum to expand the reach of these important initiatives and enact real change and improvement in the care and treatment of these populations across the country. Our collaboration also provides ABMS and our Member Boards with opportunities to help address health care issues on a national scale.”
Altarum’s MOC offerings are designed to improve patient outcomes while providing accredited education across a wide spectrum of health care providers. Below are activities offered by the program:
SmileConnect® – A program that through the combined efforts of pediatricians, internists, and family medicine physicians focuses on improving primary care training to increase preventive oral health services for children. Participants have reported a 70 percent to 90 percent increase in the provision of preventive care, which is critical to improving children’s oral health.
Advancing Responsible Opioid Prescribing – An activity focused on improving ambulatory providers’ ability to appropriately identify, prevent, and monitor patient opioid dependency or misuse to increase evaluation of patients at risk for abuse as well as monitor those in opioid therapy.
Transforming Depression – Aimed at improving primary care specialists’ ability to identify and manage patients with depression, this activity’s goals include increasing depression screening and documentation of patient treatment plans.
Transforming Trauma-Informed Care — This program helps clinicians and their support staff adjust their workflow and implementation strategies so that they can appropriately screen and optimally coordinate the care needed for patients with complex trauma or other trauma and stressor-related symptoms.
To learn more about Altarum’s nationally-accredited continuing health care education program and how it can help improve health outcomes while lowering costs, visit Altarum.org/CME.