TAFP member Carlos Roberto Jaén, M.D., of San Antonio, Texas, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Board of Family Medicine. Jaén is the chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He is also an adjunct professor at the UTHSC School of Public Health at Houston and is co-director of the Center for Research in Family Medicine and Primary Care. Jaén will serve on the ABFM Information and Technology Committee and the Research and Development Committee, and will serve a five-year term on the ABFM board.

PQRI Diabetes Module now available

ABFM has also announced that the 2010 PQRI Diabetes Module is available on the board’s website. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the ABFM Performance in Practice Registry as one of 32 qualified registries that may submit Physician Quality Reporting Initiative data to CMS on behalf of its diplomates. Another action authorized CMS to make PQRI incentive payments for satisfactory reporting of quality measures data, and established alternative reporting periods and criteria for the reporting of measure groups and PQRI quality measures through an approved clinical data registry. The PQRI Diabetes Module was designed by the ABFM to facilitate reporting of this data to CMS through the registry while also providing Maintenance of Certification for Family Physicians credit for ABFM diplomates.

Physicians who meet the criteria for satisfactory submission of quality measures data for 30 unique, separate, and distinct patients earn an incentive payment of 2 percent of their total allowed charges for Physician-Fee-Schedule-covered professional services furnished during the 2010 calendar year. CMS-approved financial incentives earned during 2010 reporting are scheduled to be paid in mid-2011.

The PQRI Diabetes Module may be accessed at no cost to ABFM diplomates; however, diplomates who are participating in MC-FP and elect to complete this module to receive Part IV credit must submit the appropriate MC-FP processing fee. All measures of the Diabetes Mellitus measure group for 2010 are available on the ABFM website, www.theabfm.org. Go to the ABFM website to begin a Part IV module for PQRI reporting or for questions regarding the PQRI.

Recognition of Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine program

Finally, ABFM seeks applications for the Recognition of Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine program. Only currently certified ABFM diplomates may apply for and maintain this recognition. The program will utilize the current ABFM Maintenance of Certification framework and is the first customized MC-FP pathway that draws heavily on practice-based learning as its foundation. To receive this recognition, a physician must successfully complete the examination process and fulfill the educational requirements. Applications can be found at: www.theabfm.org/moc/rfphm.aspx.

For more information on the latest ABFM news, go to www.theabfm.org, call the ABFM Support Center at (877) 223-7437, or e-mail help@theabfm.org.