ABIM Board Certification Anomalous Performance
Posted May 9th, 2024 by Dennis Abramson.
Categories: ABIM, ECFMG, Healthcare Litigation, Medical Licensing, NBME, NRMP, USMLE.
Examination security and integrity are crucial to maintain fairness and credibility in assessing individuals’ knowledge and skills. Upholding these principles ensures that exam results accurately reflect candidates’ abilities, fostering trust in educational systems and professional certifications. Medical testing organizations, like NBME, USMLE, and ABIM, dedicate significant resources to assuring the security of their examination content. One need look no further than USMLE’s invalidation of the Step examination scores of more than 800 examinees whose examination were deemed to have exhibited “unusual score patterns or variations” that raised questions about the validity of the exam’s results.
ABIM Notifies Examinees of Anomalous Performance on August 2023 Certification Examination
Recently, the American Board of Internal Medicine notified more than 100 individuals that it had identified an “anomaly” with the results of their 2023 Certification Examination. In the email notification, ABIM’s Vice-President of Psychometrics (read: testing security and analytics informs affected examinees that individuals from ABIM’s outside psychometric firm will be reaching out to the examinee to arrange a Zoom/Video Conference. Three (3) things to note:
- It is not a scam or a joke. It is a serious matter with the potential to permanently impact your Board Certification and Board Eligibility which, in turn, affects your eligibility for Medicare and insurance provider reimbursement and ability to obtain medical staff privileges and the vast majority of hospitals and health networks. DO NOT IGNORE follow-up correspondence regarding the scheduling of the video conference. Should you do so, it is a near certainty that you will be the subject of subsequent disciplinary proceedings.
- During the video conference, will be asked questions that, by their very nature, have accusatory undertones. The investigators from ABIM are very sophisticated, and you can expect that they already know the answers to many of the questions they are asking you. Both the substance and the manner in which you respond are important.
- BE PREPARED! At the very least, heed ABIM’s encouragement and re-read ABIM’s Policies and Procedures for Certification, including the sections on Evaluations and Judgments, Examination Ethics, and Disciplinary Sanctions and Appeals.
Experienced ABIM Counsel
For more than eighteen (18) years, the attorneys at Abramson & Abramson have advised, counseled, and represented physicians, fellows, and residents in matters before the ABIM, including investigations into anomalous test performances and allegations of an examinee possessing and/or sharing examination content. We have advised and represented clients in all phases of these matters, from the initial inquiry and follow-up investigation stages to defending allegations of wrongdoing, including by way of administrative hearing and appeal.
If you have received an email from ABIM in which you are identified as an examinee with an anomalous Board Certification examination result, our experienced attorney are available to advise and counsel you throughout the process.
