Quarterly News & Notes: Fall
2025
In this edition of News and Notes …
- Celebrating Internal Medicine Day: October 28
- Survey finds many physicians report learning and changing patient care due to participation in the LKA
- How the profession shapes exam content: Blueprint reviews launched in five areas
- Important certification and MOC dates
- The ABIM Portal: New look. Better navigation. Enhanced experience.
- A decade of physician learning and assessment: The ACCME and ABIM collaboration
- Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography (AEMUS) is now available to ABIM diplomates through ABEM
Celebrating Internal Medicine Day: October 28
Internal Medicine Day was created by our colleagues at the American College of Physicians (ACP) to celebrate internists and internal medicine specialists for their remarkable contributions to advancing the profession of medicine and patient care.
Internists bring clarity to the most challenging medical questions patients have and lead them on the path to recovery. We want to recognize the knowledge and skill of ABIM Board Certified physicians, as well as the compassion, perseverance and commitment that define this community.
We also want to welcome our newly certified physicians, whose achievement reflects years of dedication and training, and a deep commitment to patients. Congratulations—board certification is an important achievement that signifies you are ready for independent practice in your discipline and committed to staying current in knowledge and practice for the betterment of your patients into the future.
If you aren’t already, we invite you to join the thousands of your colleagues who volunteer with ABIM through governance and item-writing, standard-setting and advisory panels, and the Community Insights Network, helping to ensure that ABIM Board Certification remains of the profession and for the public.
We hope you can take a moment today to reflect on the profound difference you make in the lives of your patients, in your communities and on the future of medicine.
With gratitude,
Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH
President and CEO, ABIM and the ABIM Foundation
Professor of Medicine
Celebrate Internal Medicine Day with ABIM
Download our social media posts to celebrate the incredible work you do as a board certified physician.
Social Media Posts (right click to download)
Survey finds physicians report learning and changing patient care from their participation in the LKA
A survey of Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA®) participants found that internists are learning and putting their knowledge into practice with patients as they regularly respond to the quarterly questions.
According to the study, which was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, 73% of general internists participating in the LKA reported that it had led to changes or intended changes to patient care.
The study also reports findings related to physician learning:
- Overall, 95% of doctors reported learning from answering LKA questions.
- More than 70% said they were motivated to study further from feedback on their performance on the assessment.
- Most notably, physicians scoring in the bottom quartile were 30 percentage points more likely to report that the LKA feedback motivated them to study more compared to those in the top quartile.
“The LKA was designed to be a summative assessment that also enables physicians to learn as they respond to questions, and it appears to be working,” said Heather L. Heiman, MD, co-author of the study, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a member of the ABIM Board of Directors. “That physicians report incorporating some of what they have learned into patient care illustrates that assessments can enhance learning as well in ways that impact real life practice.”
The survey results were obtained from 1,451 general internists who enrolled in the first year the LKA was available in 2022 and continue to participate in the program.
In 2026 ABIM will launch five new focused assessments in three areas: Hematology, Gastroenterology and Medical Oncology. Focused assessments cover the same topics as the general specialty blueprint with a greater proportion of questions in the area of focus, but at the same level of difficulty as outlined on the general blueprint.
How the profession shapes exam content: Blueprint reviews launched in five areas
ABIM is conducting assessment blueprint reviews in several areas this fall, including Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine: Inpatient, Interventional Cardiology, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology and Sleep Medicine. These reviews are important because assessment blueprints determine the topics and relative percentages covered on ABIM assessments and incorporate feedback from both physicians and the medical societies in each discipline.
If you practice in one of these disciplines, you will receive an email with a link to a blueprint survey. Your insights and expertise are an important part of the process.
ABIM recently completed blueprint reviews for Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology, Critical Care Medicine, Gastroenterology, Medical Oncology and Transplant Hepatology.
The Approval Committees and Specialty Boards that oversee assessment in these specialties are reviewing the results of the surveys, and new blueprints for each will be published in January 2026.
The new blueprints will be used for the LKAs beginning in July 2026 and for the fall 2026 administrations of the certification and traditional, 10-year Maintenance of Certification (MOC) exams.
Learn more about blueprints and blueprint reviews.
Important Certification and MOC Dates
Enrollment and Registration
December 1, 2025: Enrollment opens for all assessments.
LKA-Related
December 31, 2025: The last day to answer questions in the fourth quarter.
January 1, 2026: First-quarter LKA questions become available.
March 31, 2026: The last day to answer LKA questions in the first quarter.
April 1, 2026: Second-quarter LKA questions become available.
June 30, 2026: Final day to answer LKA second-quarter questions.
The ABIM Portal: New look. Better navigation. Enhanced experience.
When you sign in to your Physician Portal, you may notice it looks a little different. This fall, ABIM launched a refreshed website, Physician Portal and Portal App designed to offer a cleaner look and a better overall user experience.
The updates were shaped by physician feedback gathered before, during and after the redesign process. The goal was to create a more intuitive experience, with meaningful improvements and clearer navigation.
A special thank you to all the physicians who contributed their insights. Your feedback was essential in shaping these enhancements.
Take a look at this short video to see what’s new on the Physician Portal.
As you explore your updated Physician Portal, if you notice something is not working as expected, you can always reach out to ABIM at request@abim.org
A decade of physician learning and assessment: The ACCME and ABIM collaboration
Ten years ago, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and ABIM launched a landmark collaboration to support physicians who are engaged in lifelong learning by enabling them to use those activities to meet requirements for ABIM’s Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program.
Now, thousands of educational activities physicians complete for CME (continuing medical education) credit can also count for ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) points—automatically, without the need to manually submit certificates.
Over the past decade, the number of CME activities that count for MOC has grown significantly.
Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH, President and CEO of ABIM and the ABIM Foundation, and Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO of ACCME, reflected on the collaboration and what it means for physicians in a recent Coffee with Graham podcast available here.
“It is pretty amazing what a mutually respectful, collaborative partnership can do to advance participation and engagement in meaningful learning experiences,” said Dr. McMahon during the conversation.
Added Dr. McDonald: “There are so many doctors out there right now who really are doing great work for their patients, and the patients are benefiting from the fact that the doctors are staying more current. Time and time again, the evidence shows that when doctors can demonstrate more knowledge and judgment, their patients have a better prognosis. And at the end of the day, it’s really about the patient.”
Visit cmepassport.org to find eligible activities that earn both CME and MOC.
Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography (AEMUS) is now available to ABIM diplomates through ABEM
The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) has made its focused practice designation (FPD) in Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography (AEMUS) available to ABIM Board Certified physicians.
If you are interested in this credential, visit ABEM’s website to learn more about initial eligibility requirements and to request an application by December 1, 2025.
The next AEMUS FPD examination will be offered from March 30 to April 4, 2026, at Pearson VUE testing centers. ABEM is accepting applications now through December 19, 2025.
Learn more on ABEM’s website or contact subspecialty@abem.org with questions.
