Hospice and Palliative Medicine Advisory Committee Meeting Summary | Spring 2026
The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Advisory Committee held its spring meeting on April 28, 2026. Representatives from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and guests from the University of Colorado joined for a portion of the meeting.*
The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Advisory Committee and the cosponsoring and qualifying boards gratefully acknowledge the service of Jessica Stetz, MD, whose term on the Advisory Committee ended June 30, 2026. Dr. Stetz joined the Advisory Committee in 2021 as a representative of the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM).
The following is a summary of the spring meeting. Visit the ABIM Blog for reports of prior meetings.
About the Advisory Committee Composition
The Advisory Committee comprises physician representatives of five American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Member Boards (referred to as the “cosponsoring boards”) and two public members: one with a patient or caregiver background in the field and one with healthcare team member experience in the field. ABIM is the administrative board, as it administers the certification exam. The cosponsoring boards are ABA, ABEM, the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP).
The qualifying boards for certification in hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) are the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR), the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), the American Board of Radiology (ABR) and the American Board of Surgery (ABS) and other ABMS surgical boards. The qualifying boards do not have a representative on the Advisory Committee.
For more detailed information about the history and composition of the Advisory Committee, visit the ABIM Blog.
Administrative Board Update*
Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH, President and CEO of ABIM and the ABIM Foundation, discussed progress on ABIM’s strategic initiatives, including:
- Customized learning plans via collaboration with the American College of Physicians (ACP) that launched in February. A new feature in ACP’s Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP) allows subscribers to import their most recent ABIM internal medicine assessment results directly into their account, which will suggest learning tools to build a tailored plan.
- Enhancing early career physician engagement through an interactive online community platform, tailored resources for residency programs and the creation of an Early Career Committee, which will begin meeting in July.
- Progress of the Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) pilot for International Medical Graduates (IMGs), which has received more than 160 applicants to date. ABIM is using the pilot to test a model for board eligibility using a CBME framework, while removing barriers for physicians who meet the same standards as peers who completed accredited internal medicine training.
- The recently expanded blueprint review process, which involves a schedule of plans for updating blueprints in every specialty over the next several years. Practicing physicians in each specialty will continue to be invited to participate in updating each blueprint to reflect current practice.
- Recent communications about the importance of exam integrity and, in particular, the appropriate use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools on the Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA®).
Dr. Dingfield asked for more information on innovations that could enable ABIM to assess competencies beyond medical knowledge, particularly communication. Dr. McDonald noted that ABIM has been investing in new technologies and exploring the use of AI models designed to evaluate communication effectiveness, among other competencies. The work is still in early testing and analysis, but possibilities under consideration include tools capable of analyzing physician-patient conversations and generating performance feedback. However, no new assessment methods will be implemented until they are thoroughly studied and measured.
Developing a Quality Agenda in Hospice and Palliative Medicine*
As a next step in the development of a discipline-specific Quality Agenda, Advisory Committee members and society guests engaged in breakout discussions to further refine the aims, drivers and relevant strategies agreed upon by the Advisory Committee and specialty society colleagues. The Quality Agenda is one of the standards for continuing certification issued by ABMS for all Member Boards in 2021. This standard requires that Member Boards “facilitate the process for developing an agenda for improving the quality of care in their specialties.” (ABMS Standards for Continuing Certification, p. 15: Requirements for Member Boards, 18. Quality Agenda.)
Members emphasized that while workforce diversification is a long-term effort, immediate steps could include expanding culturally concordant and multilingual patient resources, sharing health equity curricula across fellowship programs and advocating for education on structural and cultural barriers to care.
The group agreed on the importance of serious illness conversations and emphasized the need for more precise language around goals-of-care discussions and clearer identification of the intended audience, with a focus on hospice and palliative medicine clinicians helping other clinicians engage more effectively with patients.
Finally, there was discussion regarding the topic of biopsychosocial support and the Advisory Committee members and society guests recommended incorporating the concept under broader goals focused on maintaining high-quality care rather than treating it as a standalone aim. They emphasized that biopsychosocial and interdisciplinary, team-based care are core components of palliative medicine, while also recognizing challenges faced by clinicians in resource-limited settings.
Review the full Hospice and Palliative Medicine Quality Agenda.
Physicians Engaging in Improving Health and Health Care*
ABMS Standard 19 (ABMS Standards for Continuing Certification, p. 16) focuses on increasing the proportion of physicians engaged in improving health and health care, including quality improvement and patient safety. It requires ongoing reporting of engagement in quality improvement activities in each discipline and collaborating with other organizations to improve care through existing efforts. ABIM is not reintroducing a requirement for individual diplomates to participate in quality improvement activities. Instead, ABIM will look to increase recognition of quality improvement activities through pathways that physicians may already be using and expand engagement with healthcare and policy partners to facilitate that recognition. In addition, ABIM plans to reward diplomate engagement in quality improvement more broadly under the expanded definition than it has in the past, without the need for diplomates to do anything additional.
Members noted that family medicine and pediatrics use attestation-based approaches that emphasize quality measures, interventions and participant involvement rather than raw data reporting. Laura L. Sessums, JD, MD, Chief Medical Officer, stated that ABIM aims to support a broader, more inclusive definition of quality improvement while maintaining a low-burden reporting process. In discussing definitions of quality improvement, members favored language that balanced specificity with flexibility, emphasizing safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable care, while also recognizing the collaborative role of clinicians, patients, families and payers in improvement efforts.
Discipline-Specific Topics and Society Update*
Dr. Dingfield invited representatives of AAHPM to provide updates on AAHPM’s work and discuss hospice-related issues. Kristina Newport, MD, HMDC, FAAHPM, Chief Medical Officer for AAHPM, noted that AAHPM has refocused efforts on hospice quality, particularly in light of increasing attention to fraudulent practices by some hospices.
Dr. Newport noted that some settings are hiring physicians without hospice and palliative medicine training and that AAHPM is working to document if they can demonstrate differences in outcomes. Ilanit Brook, MD, MSHS, added that training location and local buy-in can influence whether fellows receive strong hospice training experiences that prepare them to work in the hospice setting.
Oversight of Training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine
Participants reviewed current workforce and training data, including training pathways, match data, board eligibility, special consideration pathways and relevant innovation programs. Dr. Newport noted that data showing physicians enter the specialty through different pathways may indicate opportunities to strengthen access and eligibility.
Oversight of Hospice and Palliative Medicine Assessments*
A large part of the purview of the Advisory Committee is oversight of the assessments. Each year, they examine data from assessments in each discipline. Members received population-level information, assessment participation updates and performance data to support informed decision-making and future assessment strategies.
Some members asked whether ABIM planned to include data from the other cosponsoring boards, noting that such information would be important for this multi-board discipline. Jerome Clauser, Ed.D., Vice President, Assessment Research and Innovations, explained that many ABMS Member Boards have restrictions on sharing diplomate data outside the organization, so ABIM has not yet been able to implement a cross-cutting report for the discipline. He also noted that ABIM has begun collecting gender data with expanded options but does not yet have enough to report those categories reliably.
Community Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Pathway
Katie Morrison, MD, and Amos Bailey, MD, from the University of Colorado, presented the data from the Community Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Pathway. The pathway was an ACGME Advancing Innovation in Residency Education (AIRE) pilot and aims to increase the number of qualified palliative care physicians, improve access to care in underserved and rural communities, and strengthen the long-term sustainability and diversity of the palliative care workforce.
The Advisory Committee supported approving the Community Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship pathway as a standard pathway to board eligibility in hospice and palliative medicine. The recommendation will proceed to the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Cosponsoring Committee, which comprises executives of each cosponsoring Member Board, for final consideration.
ABA Transition to Qualifying Board Status
Staff presented information regarding ABA’s transition from a cosponsoring board to a qualifying board at the end of the calendar year 2026. The certificates of physicians who were initially certified through ABA as a cosponsoring board will be transferred to ABIM and enrolled in the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Anesthesiologists wanting to maintain certification in hospice and palliative medicine will become ABIM diplomates and will be required to meet ABIM’s MOC requirements. Future anesthesiologists pursuing initial certification in hospice and palliative medicine will register for the exam through ABIM, rather than through ABA. The Advisory Committee members discussed whether and how to preserve voices from the multiple qualifying and cosponsoring boards involved in hospice and palliative medicine. The Advisory Committee may consider alternative mechanisms to ensure inclusivity, such as inviting representatives of the qualifying boards to meetings or convening separate virtual discussions. The group did not determine a definitive path forward for seeking these additional perspectives but will return to the discussion again.
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*Indicates that society representatives were present for discussion on this agenda topic.
