Stay Certified
Stay Certified

Ongoing Certification Requirements

Practice Improvement

Ongoing participation in a local, regional, or national outcomes registry or quality assessment program is a requirement of the ABS Continuous Certification Program.

Stay Certified

Intro

Activities should be related to current practice

The goal of the Continuous Certification practice improvement requirement is for diplomates to regularly assess their performance by reviewing their outcomes, addressing identified areas for improvement, and evaluating the results. This can be satisfied by ongoing participation in a local, regional, or national outcomes registry or quality assessment program.

The activity should be related to some aspect of the diplomate’s current practice. Diplomates who hold multiple ABS certificates do not have to complete this requirement for each certificate.

Diplomates are encouraged to find out what programs are available through their hospital. Many hospitals already participate in outcomes registries or require participation in a performance improvement or quality assessment program, such as the ABMS Portfolio Program. In addition, some surgical organizations have programs available to individual surgeons.

Submitting Information

Information should be submitted through the ABS surgeon portal

The ABS does not collect individual results. When reporting on their ongoing certification requirements, diplomates will be asked to indicate or describe the type of practice improvement activity in which they are participating.

The ABS audits a percentage of the submitted forms each year. If audited, a diplomate will be asked to provide verification of enrollment or participation. No patient data will be collected.

Resources

Some available resources for practice improvement

The list below is not meant to be all inclusive, but rather to provide examples of good programs. Please be advised that the ABS shares these resources as a service to diplomates; it assumes no responsibility for the content of these programs. Posting of resources is at the discretion of the ABS.

General surgery-related programs:
Vascular surgery-related programs:
Pediatric surgery-related programs:
Examples of independent options:

Guidelines

Parameters for programs

The ABS approved in June 2012 the following parameters to guide organizations in the development of practice improvement resources. Programs are expected to adhere to these criteria.

Essential Characteristics
  • The activity tracks meaningful and measurable patient outcomes. Processes of care or composite indicators associated with improved outcomes, reduced complications, or a better quality of life may be included.
  • The parameters assessed are important, scientifically acceptable, useable, relevant, and easy to collect.
  • Individual results are provided to the surgeon at least yearly, preferably a minimum of every six months.
  • A comparative analysis of individual and group results is provided.
  • The method for tracking procedures and outcomes minimizes selection bias.
  • The activity includes the ability for re-measurement after implementation of a quality improvement activity based on analysis of the results.
Desirable Characteristics
  • The information is risk-adjusted when possible.
  • The time period between recording of data and reporting of results is minimized as much as possible.
  • Resources are provided to enable completion of quality improvement activities based on the results.
  • The activity provides comparisons over different time periods to track the effect of quality improvement activities.
  • Data entry is done by trained third-party personnel when possible.
  • The information is subject to audit to assure its validity and reliability.