Practice Improvement (PI)

Improvement in Medical Practice Activity

Clinically active ABEM-certified physicians must complete and attest to one Improvement in Medical Practice (IMP) activity during each 5-year certification cycle.  

Physicians can view their individual requirements and attest to completion by signing in to their ABEM Portal. There is no ABEM fee to participate in IMP.

Many activities that physicians practice every day can count toward the practice improvement requirement. Physicians who are not engaged in a program at work will need to identify one available through various national and state organizations, design one with their EM colleagues, or create their own.

Activities must follow these steps:

  1. Measure ten or more patients with a specific condition or clinical situation
  2. Compare to standard
  3. Implement an improvement plan
  4. Re-measure

Practice Improvement Guide

Requirements for Verification

Physicians are required to specify an independent verifier of each Practice improvement activity. The verifier must be someone with oversight or knowledge of practice performance.

Five percent of activities will be randomly selected for verification. Verifiers will be asked to affirm that all of ABEM’s requirements have been met.

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