Improving Performance Improvement

Since 2005, the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) has provided Diplomates with quality improvement tools for meeting the continuing certification Performance in Practice requirement. These tools took the form of Performance in Practice Modules (PPMs) based on the Deming model for quality improvement.1 The ABFM focused on common disorders frequently encountered by family physicians: diabetes, hypertension, asthma, depression, coronary artery disease, and heart failure. The ABFM also created a “comprehensive” PPM that provided diplomates with a broader set of measure options based on the Ambulatory Quality Alliance Starter Set.2 Since inception of the PPMs, Diplomates have completed >98,000 quality improvement activities (ABFM internal report, accessed February 20, 2017; available upon request.)