2. HEALTHY
This year’s annual report theme of Healthy
focuses on one of the core values of the
Massachusetts Medical Society. Good health
in all its forms — the health of patients and
communities — as well as the state’s physi-
cians, practices, and the medical profession
as a whole.
We’d like to tell you about some of our
highlights through the voices of our members
who have contributed so much over these
past 12 months. In Healthy Communities, we look at MMS efforts
to educate prescribers and patients about the safe and responsible pre-
scribing and handling of opioids. In Healthy Practices, we explore the
ever-changing landscape of practice transformation through the eyes of
members who have successfully navigated federal regulatory shifts in
Medicare payment systems and Meaningful Use regulations.
We’ll hear from some of the MMS’s more than 25,000 members about
the value of organized medicine, especially for young and early-career
physicians in Healthy Profession. And in Healthy Knowledge, we’ll
review the exciting knowledge-sharing initiatives developed by our
NEJM Group over the past year.
Thank you for your support this year — and in the years to come — as
we strive to serve the Commonwealth’s physicians and their patients.
Corinne Broderick, Executive Vice President
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 2015–2016
That the MMS strategic priorities for 2015–2016 are the following:
improve health care quality, access, and equity for patients, while
delivering cost-effective care and promoting a sound public health
system for the Commonwealth. In order to advance the mission of
the MMS, the goals of our strategic plan will be the following:
• PHYSICIAN ADVOCACY: solidify the position of the MMS as
a leader and credible voice at the state and federal level for
physicians in any practice environment or setting. The MMS will
carefully monitor the impact of the rapidly transforming health
care delivery system, while identifying and developing physician
implementation strategies.
• PATIENT CARE ADVOCACY: work to identify and minimize
barriers to access to care; will assist physicians in their efforts to
achieve high quality, cost effective care; and will support accu-
rate, reliable, timely, and meaningful quality and cost data, in
a manner that meets physician expectations for transparency.
• PRESERVATION OF PROFESSIONALISM: advocate for health
care environments that foster a culture that ensures patient-
centered, physician-led care; and promotes professional
satisfaction and a commitment to lifelong learning.
MMS Executive Vice President
Corinne Broderick
3. iii
CONTENTS
Letter from the Executive Vice President ii
Strategic Priorities 2015–2016 ii
Leadership iv
Healthy Communities 2
An Epidemic That Starts in the Medicine Cabinet 3
A High-Wire Balancing Act 3
No Time to Waste 4
Every Physician Has a Role 5
Healthy Practices 6
Bipartisan Victory 7
“Your Voices Were Heard” 8
Electronic Health Records and Meaningful Use 9
Healthy Profession 10
Growth in Physician and Residency Groups Statewide 12
Future of Medicine 13
Healthy Knowledge 14
Excellence in a Question Bank 15
MMS Headquarters, Waltham
4. iv
LEADERSHIP
MMS and District Leadership, 2014–2015
Richard S. Pieters, MD, President
Dennis Dimitri, MD, President-Elect
James S. Gessner, MD, Vice President
Alain A. Chaoui, MD, Secretary-Treasurer
Corey Collins, DO, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer
Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, Speaker, House of Delegates
David A. Rosman, MD, MBA, Vice Speaker, House of Delegates
Ronald W. Dunlap, MD, Immediate Past President
Paula J. Madison, Alliance President
Corinne Broderick, Executive Vice President
BARNSTABLE
Maryanne C. Bombaugh, MD, Trustee
Anna A. Manatis, MD, MPH, Alternate Trustee
Kenneth A. Heisler, MD, District President
BERKSHIRE
Basil M. Michaels, MD, Trustee and District President
Robert Hertzig, MD, Alternate Trustee
BRISTOL NORTH
Julia F. Edelman, MD, Trustee and District President
Christopher Garofolo, MD, Trustee
BRISTOL SOUTH
Barry Steinberg, MD, Trustee
David S. Adelstein III, DO, Alternate Trustee
Jagdish R. Shah, MD, District President
CHARLES RIVER
Hubert I. Caplan, MD, Trustee
Alan Semine, MD, Alternate Trustee
Darshan H. Mehta, MD, MPH, District President
ESSEX NORTH
William A. Cook, MD, Trustee
Vincent J. Russo, MD, Alternate Trustee
Glenn P. Kimball, MD, District President
ESSEX SOUTH
Keith C. Nobil, MD, Trustee
Hugh M. Taylor, MD, Alternate Trustee
Susan Moynihan, MD, District President
FRANKLIN
Sarah A. Kemble, MD, MPH, Trustee
William F. Doyle, MD, Alternate Trustee
Stephen H. Fox, MD, District President
HAMPDEN
Kevin P. Moriarty, MD, Trustee
Claudia L. Koppelman, MD, Alternate Trustee
Mary Kraft, MD, District President
HAMPSHIRE
Daniel E. Clapp, MD, Trustee
James R. Ralph, MD, Alternate Trustee
Ann F. Mick, MD, District President
MIDDLESEX
Carole E. Allen, MD, Trustee
Lee S. Perrin, MD, Alternate Trustee
Corey E. Collins, DO, District President
MIDDLESEX CENTRAL
Thomas A. LaMattina, MD, Trustee
Sarah Taylor, MD, Alternate Trustee and
District President
5. v
MIDDLESEX NORTH
Navin Popat, MD, Trustee
M. Denise Mills, MD, Alternate Trustee
Nidhi K. Lal, MD, District President
MIDDLESEX WEST
Judd L. Kline, MD, Trustee
James F.X. Kenealy, MD, Alternate Trustee
Stephen B. Berkowitz, MD, District President
NORFOLK
Mangadhara R. Madineedi, MD, Trustee and District President
John J. Looney, MD, Alternate Trustee
NORFOLK SOUTH
John J. Walsh, MD, Trustee
Melody J. Eckardt, MD, Alternate Trustee
Patricia T. Hopkins, MD, District President
PLYMOUTH
Edith M. Jolin, MD, MPH, Trustee
B. Hoagland Rosania, MD, Alternate Trustee
Salah Reyad, MD, District President
SUFFOLK
Henry L. Dorkin, MD, Trustee
Michael S. Annunziata, MD, Alternate Trustee
Subramanyan Jayasankar, District President
WORCESTER
James B. Broadhurst, MD, Trustee
Sahdev Passey, MD, Alternate Trustee
Frederic Baker, MD, District President
WORCESTER NORTH
Heidi J. Foley, MD, Trustee
Svend W. Bruun Jr., MD, Alternate Trustee
John R. Bogdasarian, MD, District President
Joseph C. Bergeron Jr., MD, Chair of Finance
McKinley Glover, MD, Resident Trustee
Jawad Hussain, MD, Alternate Resident Trustee
Gillian Griffith, Student Trustee
Eli Freiman, Alternate Student Trustee
MMS LEADERSHIP 2014–2015
From left to right: David A. Rosman, MD; James S. Gessner, MD;
Dennis M. Dimitri, MD; Richard S. Pieters, MD; Alain Chaoui, MD;
Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD; Corrine Broderick
Not pictured: Corey Collins, DO; Paula J. Madison
7. 3
AN EPIDEMIC THAT STARTS IN THE
MEDICINE CABINET
“This is an epidemic that starts in the medicine cabinet,”
said Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office
of National Drug Policy.
Mr. Botticelli was describing the national public health crisis that left
virtually no Massachusetts community untouched in 2015: opioid abuse
and addiction.
Nearly 4 in 10 state residents personally know someone who has abused pre-
scription pain medications,and more than 80 percent of people who misuse
prescription pain medications are using drugs prescribed to someone else.
His blunt words, spoken early this year as he prepared his keynote ad-
dress to the Massachusetts Medical Society’s 2015 Public Health Leader-
ship Forum, were quickly taken to heart by Society leaders.
It was clear that a physician-led opioid abuse prevention campaign that
included education for both providers and patients was needed — and it
was needed immediately.
That forum brought together more than 200 physicians,health care pro-
fessionals,and policymakers to discuss the problem.Moderated by John
Burress,MD,vice chair of the MMS Committee on Public Health,the
program discussed policy and clinical challenges and opportunities in pain
management and substance abuse prevention and treatment.
Opioids were also the focus of the Ethics
Forum at the MMS Annual Meeting less than a
month later,and MMS leaders explored ethical
considerations in pain management,including
responsible prescribing,the complexity of pain
as a clinical issue,and the ethical problems asso-
ciated with undertreatment and overtreatment.
A HIGH-WIRE BALANCING ACT
Treating a patient for pain in 2015 became a very
complicated matter — in many ways like a high-
wire balancing act for the state’s physicians,
said MMS President Richard S. Pieters, a
radiation oncologist at UMass Memorial
Medical Center.
But the Society’s physicians — particularly
palliative care specialists like Dr. Pieters —
were well aware of the thorny balance
between a physician’s obligations to the patient
and obligations to public health when it comes to prescribing opioids.
When the issue exploded onto the public stage in during his presidency,
Pieters said, it became clear that physicians needed to be articulate and
passionate advocates for their patients.
“Opioid use is essential in the compassionate care of many
patients, particularly those suffering from cancer and terminal
illness,” he said. “We must strive to preserve the role of opioids
in patient care while directly addressing the impact prescription
drugs have on opiate addictions and overdoses.”
As the issue began to dominate news headlines, physicians’ groups across
the state and nation began to formulate plans and solutions. Dr. Pieters
was asked to join the American Medical Association’s newly formed Task
Force to Reduce Prescription Opioid Abuse. MMS Vice President James
Gessner, MD, agreed to lead the corresponding Massachusetts effort, the
MMS Task Force on Opiate Therapy and Physician Communication.
As the numbers of patients struggling with opioids continued to climb
during the spring of 2015, Massachusetts state officials sought out MMS
leaders to collaborate with them on solutions.
MMS President
Richard S. Pieters, MD
8. 4
NO TIME TO WASTE
The directive from Governor Charlie Baker,
Attorney General Maura Healey,and the state
Department of Public Health was unequivocal:
There was no time to waste.Patients across
the state,from all walks of life,were dying from
opioids,many thousands more were in the grips
of addiction as their families suffered.
In collaboration with national addiction pre-
vention leaders and experts in pain management, MMS leaders devel-
oped a three-pronged campaign to help alleviate the suffering of patients
and their families.
In June, MMS launched Smart and Safe, a comprehensive online resource
about opioid abuse for patients, physicians, and other prescribers.
Its goal was to promote the safe prescribing, storage, and disposal of opioid
medications and to reduce the number of opioid overdoses in Massachu-
setts.As part of the effort, the MMS made its continuing medical educa-
tion courses on opioids and pain management free to all prescribers.These
courses were accessed more than 3,200 times in just a few months.
A corresponding public education radio campaign, featuring a popular
New England football player, advising patients to store and dispose of
medications properly, reached an estimated one million listeners each
week in late summer and early fall.
Later in the summer, the Board of Registration in Medicine on unan-
imously voted to incorporate the MMS’s recently developed Opioid
Therapy and Physician Communication Guidelines into its new updated
set of prescribing guidelines.
“The MMS has always supported the
position that physicians must use their
best clinical judgment in the treatment
of all patients,” said MMS Vice Pres-
ident James Gessner, MD, who was
active in developing the new standards.
“The guidelines were designed to provide
valuable guidance to physicians in their
practices and as evidence of best practices
and to the Board.”
The time was right for the MMS to take a leadership role in educating
physicians of various specialties about pain management and addiction,
including developing curriculum, said Barbara Herbert, MD, director of
addiction services at Steward Medical Group.
“The Society needed to work on training people to not just treat pain,
but also to help patients deal with the complex medical, spiritual, and
physical disease which is addiction,” said Dr. Herbert.
Barbara Herbert, MD
MMS Vice President
James S. Gessner, MD
9. 5
She also believes that more physicians must learn how to intervene earlier
in the addiction trajectory. “I compare this to asthma,” said Dr. Herbert.
“People who have a bad asthma attack may need to go the ER, but they
can avoid the ER if you can figure out they have asthma earlier and pre-
scribe an inhaler.”
In early September, the MMS, along with representatives from the state’s
four medical schools, met with Governor Charlie Baker and Commis-
sioner of Public Health Monica Bharel, MD, to discuss a physician-led
approach in developing training and best practices for medical students
on pain management and safe opioid prescribing.
Providing medical students and new physicians with additional training
on opioids will complement the ongoing effort to provide pain manage-
ment CME to all prescribers as new best prescribing practices are devel-
oped in the months to come.
EVERY PHYSICIAN HAS A ROLE
The public health challenge of opioid abuse and
addiction will be with the medical community
for years to come, but the commitment by
Massachusetts physicians to make a differ-
ence and be part of the solution has already
made a difference.
“Many groups have risen to meet the
challenge, and physicians have made the
commitment to be part of the solution as
well,” said MMS President-Elect Dennis M.
Dimitri, MD. “As those closest to the patients, as the ones who
prescribe their medicines and treat their pain, we can do no less.
This is a problem that we needed to address head-on,” he said.
“Every physician has a role.”
MMS President-Elect
Dennis M. Dimitri, MD
Massachusetts Department
of Public Health Commissioner
Monica Bharel, MD
Massachusetts Governor
Charlie Baker
11. 7
Physicians in Massachusetts and nationwide cheered when — after
17 years of frustration and many patches and attempts at reform —
Medicare’s flawed Sustainable Growth Rate formula, or SGR, was
finally repealed in April 2015.
The SGR repeal legislation passed the House and Senate by overwhelm-
ing majorities in April. The approval came just hours before yet another
payment patch was set to expire and Medicare would have been forced
to cut physician payments by 21 percent.
In the weeks leading to the vote, thousands of physicians from around
the country — including several hundred from Massachusetts — par-
ticipated in an email campaign urging Congressional lawmakers in both
chambers to pass the bill.
The importance of repealing the flawed physician payment formula that
has threatened physicians with double-digit reimbursement cuts more
than 15 times over the past decade could not be overstated, said MMS
President Richard Pieters, MD.
“Change was crucial to re-establishing a stable environment
for physicians and more than one million Massachusetts seniors
and 70,000 military families who depend on Medicare,” said
Dr. Pieters. “The time for short-term remedies was over. Every
patch kept the flawed system in place.”
BIPARTISAN VICTORY
The bipartisan victory in Congress for patients
and physicians was an enormous relief
to Massachusetts physicians, said MMS
President-Elect Dennis M. Dimitri, MD.
“We no longer have the threat of 20–30%
cuts in payment hanging over our heads. We
have finally and completely replaced the flawed
SGR formula,” said Dr. Dimitri.
The new Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, or MACRA,
calls instead for stabilized payment rates for physicians, with small, yet
predictable, increases through 2019.
The new law places physicians on one of two new tracks
for Medicare payment beginning in 2019, including
a program that incrementally adjusts fees based on
scores in clinical quality, meaningful use of electronic
health records, efficiency, and practice improvement.
12. 8
The new system streamlines several disparate quality reporting programs
onto one, reducing confusion for many practices.
MMS officials will be active in the coming months helping members
adjust to the new systems, said Alex Calcagno, MMS director of Federal
and Community Relations.
“We envision all these programs will be one coordinated system, and
its metrics will be meaningful, valid, and scientifically verifiable,” said
Ms. Calcagno.
“Going forward, our job is going to be to help our members make the
transition and decide what’s best for them and their patients,” she said.
“YOUR VOICES WERE HEARD”
The law does provide funding for quality-measure development, at
$15 million per year from 2015 to 2019, while physicians are retain their
leading role in developing quality standards. In fact, there is call in the
legislation for various physician specialty societies to be actively engaged
in the development of appropriate metrics.
MACRA also includes other important provisions, including extended
funding for the National Health Service Corps, which will help ensure
an appropriate future work force of physicians to serve patients in the
future.
“We want to thank all the members of the Massachusetts Congressional
Delegation who not only voted in favor of the bill, but remained commit-
ted over the years to reforming the Medicare payment schedule on behalf
of the nation’s seniors, military families, and persons with disabilities,” said
Dr. Pieters.“We are equally grateful to the leadership and members on both
sides of the aisle that made passage of this landmark law a reality.”
Most of all, Dr. Pieters said, the MMS is grateful to its members who
reached out when the advocacy counted the most.
“We also thank the physicians who reached out and contacted
their representatives in Congress in advance of this vote,”
Dr. Pieters said. “Your voices were heard.”
MMS House of Delegates Annual Meeting 2015, Seaport Boston
13. 9
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
AND MEANINGFUL USE
The practice environment contin-
ued to change rapidly this year
and present ongoing regulatory
challenges to physician practic-
es in Massachusetts.
One of the most welcome
actions to reduce bur-
densome regulations on
physician practices came
from the Massachusetts
Board of Registration in
Medicine in late 2014.
After hearing exten-
sive evidence and testimony from
the state’s physician-leaders, the Board approved a broad set of
regulations that allowed physicians more options to comply with a state
law that ties a physician’s license to practice medicine to proficiency with
electronic health records.
The so-called“meaningful use” regulation — originally written into the
state’s landmark 2012 health care cost containment law — had severe un-
intended consequences that would have prevented more than half of the
state’s physicians from gaining licensure, since the majority of physicians
in the state are not eligible for the federal meaningful use requirement.
In testimony before the Board in September 2014, MMS Vice President
James S. Gessner, MD, said if left unchanged, the regulations“would
severely affect patient access to care across the Commonwealth.”
The Board ultimately elected to establish multiple ways in which phy-
sicians could comply with the law’s requirement and demonstrate and
improve their skills, among them completing an accredited continuing
medical education course on electronic health records; participating
in the Massachusetts Health Information Highway, the state’s official
health information exchange; or having a relationship that includes
patient care activity with a hospital that has a meaningful use program.
“The Board’s action not only eased physician concerns
about licensure, but preserved access to care for patients,”
said Dr. Pieters. “We were grateful for the Board’s reasonable
approach to the issue.”
15. 11
The value of organized medicine was front and center in 2015 as phy-
sician advocacy proved effective in a number of major issues facing our
membership.
The MMS was an active advocate on behalf of the state’s physicians on
several major federal regulatory issues,including flawed Medicare payment
formulas and onerous Meaningful Use regulations.On the state level,Society
leaders worked with Massachusetts lawmakers to craft broad-based opioid
addiction prevention efforts,as well as new Massachusetts opioid prescribing
guidelines.
For the first time ever,MMS membership topped 25,000 members,and the
Society deepened its presence in many important membership categories.
The new member rolls from this year represent the spectrum of Massa-
chusetts physicians, including an increase among women members and
physicians under 40, and an 11 percent jump among new student mem-
bers. These are physicians we hope will be with MMS as active members
for many decades to come.
Ellana Stinson, MD, co-vice chair for the
Committee on Young Physicians and CYP
Delegate to AMA-YPS 2015 Interim
Assembly, said the MMS had offered her
many opportunities to be involved in state
and national gatherings.
“I was motivated to become more
involved with MMS so that I can be a
more effective leader in my field,” said
Dr. Stinson. “Specifically, I was interest-
ed in meeting leaders in a wide variety of
disciplines and being exposed to mentorship
opportunities that are otherwise difficult to find. Although it is
challenging to make time for such events, I look forward to commit-
tee meetings, which allow me to speak with other young physicians
and learn more about the work they do. These types of experiences
add exceptional value to today’s physicians, who strive to be leaders
with significant impact on their field of medicine.”
Sanjay Bansal, MD, co-vice chair of the
Society’s Committee on Young Physicians,
said he became active in MMS after attend-
ing a professional development event.
“I like being involved in the MMS be-
cause I feel I can make a bigger contribution
to medicine beyond my specialty. I think the
MMS gives physicians a strong collective
voice to help advocate for important health
policy, and meet common challenges facing
us in our practice,” said Dr. Bansal.
MMS Committee on Young
Physicians Co-Vice Chair
Ellana Stinson, MD
MMS Committee on Young
Physicians Co-Vice Chair
Sanjay Bansal, MD
Resident and Medical Student Delegates
to MMS House of Delegates 2015
16. 12
“I enjoyed going to the recent annual AMA conference and felt inspired
by so many of my colleagues. I like networking with physicians across
specialties, because it helps to give me a fresh perspective on my own
clinical practice. I truly feel we are stronger as a group than each of us
individually.”
GROWTH IN PHYSICIAN AND
RESIDENCY GROUPS STATEWIDE
We had more than 168 physician groups enrolled as of late spring, a total
of 4,712 members represented.
Among the many new groups who joined us this year were Andover
Surgical Associates, Boston ENT Associates, Central Massachusetts
IPA, Dowd Medical Associates, Emerson IPA, Internal Medicine
Physicians of North Shore, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Anesthesiology,
Massachusetts Gastroenterology Association, Massachusetts Managed
Care Providers, Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, Massachusetts
Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, Medical Associates of
Greater Boston, SkinCare Physicians, South Shore Medical Center,
and Waverley Primary Care.
Residency programs were also a significant area of MMS membership
around the state. We currently represent more than 288 resident groups
comprised of more 5,430 members.
We were pleased to welcome 21 new residency and fellowship programs
in 2015, including Boston Children’s Hospital Adolescent Medicine
Fellowship, Boston Children’s Hospital Pediatric Radiology Residency,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Pulmonary and Critical Care Residency,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Surgical Oncology Residency, Carney
Hospital Family Medicine Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
Advanced General Neurology Residency, Massachusetts General Hospi-
tal Movement Disorders Residency, Tufts Medical Center Hand Surgery
Fellowship, Tufts Medical Center Child Neurology Fellowship, and
UMass Medical Center Radiology Residency.
House of Delegates Members McKinley Glover IV, MD;
Jawad Hussain, MD; Eli Freiman; and Gillian Griffith
at the 2015 MMS Annual Meeting
17. 13
We continued our sustained commitment and success in supporting
the AMA’s recruitment efforts. An initiative to bring student members
into organized medicine nationally with membership sponsored by the
MMS was incredibly successful, with a 9 percent increase in that catego-
ry, bringing our total AMA membership to more than 6,660 members.
We have a strong presence at the AMA and very effective delegation
from Massachusetts that recently grew again, with an added delegate.
FUTURE OF MEDICINE
Helen M. Farrell, MD, a psychiatrist at Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center and instruc-
tor at Harvard Medical School, said partic-
ipation in organized medicine had been an
invaluable professional boost.
“MMS has provided me with a dynamic
platform to launch my professional aspira-
tions, assume leadership roles, and meet a
diverse group of colleagues whom I might
not otherwise know,” said Dr. Farrell.
“As a 2015 Delegate for the Young Physicians to the AMA annual meet-
ing, MMS provided me with an opportunity to grow my network and
participate as an integral member of the AMA. My first experience with
MMS was at a workshop for young physicians, which was full of in-
spiration and practical advice on everything from growing a business to
sound financial investing to balancing life,” said Dr. Farrell.“With ample
opportunities for connection, growth, and inspiration, making time in my
schedule for MMS is a pleasure. I believe the future of medicine will be
transformed by the young physicians, and I am delighted to be a part of it!”
We would like to recognize and thank the Society’s Committee on Member-
ship,led by Chair Spiro Spanakis,MD,and Vice Chair Samir Patel,MD.
These increases represent their hard work, along with the efforts of our
officers, district leaders, committees, House of Delegates, individual
members, and staff to recruit, retain, and satisfy our members.
We are deeply appreciative to all of you who worked so hard this year to
help the MMS fulfill its mission to serve the physicians of Massachusetts
and their patients.
AMA Delegate
Helen M. Farrell, MD
19. 15
This year, NEJM Group launched the first of
several innovative and groundbreaking continu-
ous learning programs.
NEJM Knowledge+ Internal Medicine
Board Review was designed specifically for
internal medicine and internal medicine sub-
specialists. It includes more than 4,000 ques-
tions covering 1,600 learning objectives and a
simulated exam environment with two timed
two-hour practice exams available via desktop,
tablet, and smartphone.
The program offers physicians the opportunity to earn AMA PRA
Category 1 Credits™ and Maintenance of Certification points toward
the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Self-Evaluation
of Medical Knowledge (Part 2) requirement with automatic, paperless
submission.
“The challenge in improving medical education today is working with
increasingly time constrained clinicians,” says Graham McMahon, MD,
founding editor of NEJM Knowledge+.“We decided that the best way
we could help was to deliver an educational tool that was both effective
and efficient.”
NEJM Group partnered with Area9 Learning — a physician-led pioneer
in adaptive learning — to create a first-of-its-kind platform with smart
technology that adapts to clinicians’ learning goals, pace, and knowledge
gaps to deliver the information they need to know.
“The launch of NEJM Knowledge+ Internal Medicine Board
Review marks a milestone for NEJM Group as we extend
our brands to deliver on our mission of advancing knowledge,
learning, and practice to improve patient outcomes,” said
NEJM Group Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey M. Drazen, MD.
EXCELLENCE IN A QUESTION BANK
Following the success of NEJM Knowledge+
Internal Medicine Board Review,
NEJM Group added NEJM Knowledge+
Family Medicine Board Review — a prod-
uct designed expressly for family medicine
physicians, residents, and physician assis-
tants — to its growing portfolio of educa-
tional products.
The content was written by more than
300 physicians from practices and programs
across the country and was subjected to a rig-
orous review by professional educators, internal
medicine and family medicine generalists, and
NEJM Group editors.
Senior NEJM Knowledge+ Reviewer Mark T. Nadeau, MD, MBA,
FAAFP, professor of Family and Community Medicine at University
of Texas, San Antonio, said that the product helps learners“develop the
knowledge base that will help them be successful in the high-stakes test
that is the American Board of Family Medicine exam.”
Like Internal Medicine Board Review,NEJM Knowledge+ Family
Medicine Board Review includes more than 4,000 questions covering
1,600 key learning points and a simulated exam environment.Family Medi-
cine Board Review is also supported in iOS and Android tablets and phones,
and features new question search and multidimensional reporting functions.
The product allows learners to focus their study on the two topic areas
they will choose on exam day to make up 26 percent of their ABFM
board exam. NEJM Knowledge+ keeps its content current and aligned
with the standard of care in medicine.
NEJM Group Editor-in-Chief
Jeffrey M. Drazen, MD
20. 16
Unlike other medical learning solutions, which emphasize reading, study, or
lectures leading up to questions and practice exams, NEJM Knowledge+
emphasizes continuous self-assessment with multiple question formats fol-
lowed by detailed feedback, a system to help learners retain what they have
learned, and sophisticated performance assessments and tracking to help
them make the best choices for how to spend their valuable time.
Christie J. Lucente, MS, PA-C, the physician assistant reviewer of the
family medicine question bank and a practitioner at Brigham and Wom-
en’s Hospital, said,“I’ve tried taking courses, I’ve tried doing book learn-
ing, and I’ve tried other online platforms, and there’s nothing that’s as
convenient or efficient as NEJM Knowledge+.”
Thousands of clinicians from around the world have already selected
NEJM Knowledge+ review programs to help them meet their continu-
ous learning needs. The programs have so far been adopted by internal
medicine residency programs worldwide, including Brigham and
Women’s Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Turku
University Hospital in Finland.
Reviews from clinicians on the programs have been positive.
“I started using NEJM Knowledge+ and I think it is the best
learning system that I have ever used,” said Rob McEachern, MD.
“It is a very innovative method of learning that … keeps track of your
learning on different topics and retests you in a strategic manner un-
til you are proficient in the area,” said Dr. McEachern.“I could see this
type of program as a required part of keeping up in internal medicine,
and hopefully, we’ll see similar programs in the subspecialty areas in the
future. I think that they are onto something really special!”
21. 17
William Reichert, MD, called NEJM Knowledge+“the best CME
experience I have ever been involved with.”
“The relevance to my actual practice is very high,” said
Dr. Reichert. “The ability to spend 30 minutes at a time
when you have the time is a very time-efficient way to learn.”
Sikander Hayat,MD,described how he learned about NEJM Knowledge+
just three days before his May 2014 exam.“The ABIM questions were very
similar to the questions in NEJM Knowledge+,which gave me a lot of
practice.I finished my exam in almost half the time,and I got a top score,”
said Dr.Hayat.“This product was not only useful for the ABIM exam but
also reinforced my already acquired knowledge and provided me with new
answers to my daily practice.”
