Altarum Joins ABMS Multi-Specialty Portfolio Program

Program Offers Participating Physicians Practicing Across the Nation an Opportunity to Maintain Board Certification and Improve Patient Health and Safety

News provided by

American Board of Medical Specialties

Jul 01, 2019, 11:00 ET

CHICAGO, July 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) announced that Altarum has joined ABMS' Multi-Specialty Portfolio Program™ (Portfolio Program). Physicians who are board certified by one or more of the 18 of 24 ABMS Member Boards participating in the Portfolio Program can now earn Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Improvement in Medical Practice (Part IV) credit for their involvement in approved Altarum practice improvement (PI) and quality improvement (QI) activities.

A nonprofit health care consulting and research organization, Altarum creates and implements solutions to advance the health of vulnerable and publicly insured populations throughout the United States. Working with the Portfolio Program, Altarum may now offer the more than 1,200 physicians currently participating throughout the country the opportunity to satisfy their continuing certification program needs and improve the care of an estimated 2.5 million patients in these priority populations.

"Altarum's model of continuing medical education is proven to result in measurably improved physician performance and patient outcomes," said Eileen Bailey, Director of Continuing Education at Altarum. "We offer off-the-shelf and customized performance improvement initiatives that include in-person training and implementation support at the physician location and involve interprofessional education for the entire care team. The Altarum model is designed to ensure success in achieving clinician behavior change, clinical workflow efficiency, and patient care delivery that leads to higher quality and lower costs."

Physician practices, health care systems, governmental departments, universities, and other health care related organizations with an interest in PI/QI may participate in Altarum's activities.

"Working with Altarum, we are able to not only offer board certified physicians continuing certification Improvement in Medical Practice credit, we also can involve the entire care team in these activities," stated ABMS President and Chief Executive Officer Richard E. Hawkins, MD. "The impact this approach can have on some of the most vulnerable of our populations is important and is aligned with our commitment to higher standards and better care."

All of Altarum's QI/PI initiatives are created to meet a demonstrated health care need. Altarum's team recruits health care systems and physician practices to participate in initiatives designed to address national health care challenges that have direct impact on local communities. Among the activities that are part of the program's offering are:

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.

"Altarum is focused on improving serious and longstanding national health care issues," stated David W. Price, MD, FAAFP, FACEHP, FSACME, Executive Director of the Portfolio Program. "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."

To date, the Portfolio Program has helped engage physicians in QI and PI initiatives at hospitals and health systems across the country, with many showing improvement in care outcomes. Since its inception, more than 3,100 improvement efforts have been completed by Portfolio Program participants.

About ABMS
Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is the leading not-for-profit organization overseeing 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 the patients, families and communities we serve. More than 880,000 physicians are certified in one or more of the approved 40 specialties and 87 subspecialties offered by the ABMS Member Boards. For more information about ABMS, visit abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

About Altarum
Altarum is a nonprofit health care consulting and research institute that creates solutions to advance health among vulnerable and publicly insured populations. With roots in health care dating back 40 years, Altarum works with government insurance programs to develop and implement improvements to address the unique population health challenges of their beneficiaries. Altarum's solutions are holistic, enabled by technology, and focused on prevention and appropriate care. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan with a large presence in Washington, D.C., Altarum employs over 400 professionals nationwide. Learn more at Altarum.org.

SOURCE American Board of Medical Specialties