As of January 4, the American Board of Family Medicine’s (ABFM) Family Medicine Certification Longitudinal Assessment (FMCLA) pilot has begun for current board-certified family physicians who are in their 10th year of their certification cycle and due to take their exam this year.
Those physicians who have completed all requirements and have submitted an approved application can now access the first set of 25 questions from within their Physician Portfolio on the ABFM website. There is a new button located under the “Track Your Progress” section of their portfolio which reads “FMCLA.” Physicians will have until Sunday, March 31, to complete the first quarter.
- No study guide is provided for the FMCLA pilot. Physicians may want to study and/or gain knowledge of areas that may be covered during the pilot in the same manner that they prepare for patient care and/or the one-day exam. Participants can view the Longitudinal Assessment Content Assessment Outline on the informational page of the ABFM website to get an idea of what will be covered.
- The questions are not able to be printed in advance for the purpose of studying. The participants will have 5 minutes to answer each question. Based on ABFM’s experience with Continuous Knowledge-Self Assessment (CKSA), as well as the American Board of Pediatrics’ experience with their longitudinal assessment program, five minutes is more than sufficient, even when needing to use resources. Of those physicians who have already completed the first quarter of FMCLA, the average time per question was 1-2 minutes.
- Once the question is viewed it will need to be answered or will result in a missed question.
- Physicians will remain certified as long as they are participating in the pilot. They will receive an updated certificate beginning in fall 2019.
Those physicians who still need to apply for the pilot or the one-day exam may do so until Friday, March 1. If you need assistance with the FMCLA pilot or any other aspect of the certification process, please contact the ABFM Support Center by calling 877.223.7437. You may also wish to view the AAFP’s Facebook Live recording about FMCLA, and/or review this YouTube video about it.