ABIM Foundation Focus – Summer 2015

The ABIM Foundation 2015 grant programs focus on projects that reduce overuse in health care through the implementation of the Choosing Wisely^® campaign and promoting stewardship in medical education.

Choosing Wisely Grants

Through $4.2 million in funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the ABIM Foundation recently awarded seven grants with the purpose of advancing the Choosing Wisely campaign in health systems across the country. This new round of funding marks the second grant ABIM Foundation has received from RWJF.

The grants will support initiatives focused on reducing utilization of inappropriate tests and treatments. Each initiative includes delivery systems, hospitals and/or medical groups working in collaboration with multi-stakeholder community-based groups and physician-led organizations.

The projects will span the course of three years and address at least three areas of waste or overuse cited by specialty societies in the Choosing Wisely lists. All grantees will focus on reducing the overuse of antibiotics for viral infections, as well as two or more additional tests or treatments specified among the Choosing Wisely recommendations.

Grantees include:

• Greater Detroit Area Health Council
• Integrated Healthcare Association
• Maine Quality Counts
• North Carolina Healthcare Quality Alliance
• University of California, Los Angeles
• Washington Health Alliance
• Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality

Learn more about the new grants and the work of the previous grantees.

Putting Stewardship into Medical Education and Training

Six grants of $25,000 each will be awarded in fall 2015 to clinical training programs in medicine/surgery, nursing and other allied health professions. The goal of this program is to foster innovations and new approaches to integrating stewardship competencies and better decision-making into medical education and training. The program aims to expand existing training program initiatives or launch new ones designed to reduce the overuse of certain tests and procedures.

Upcoming Event

The annual Roundtable on Medical Professionalism will take place in Cleveland, Ohio, in late September. Co-sponsored by the ABIM Foundation and Cleveland Clinic, this year’s event, “Professionalism through the Eyes of Physicians, Patients and Health Care Organizations,” will explore:

• Professional identity formation across the life span of a medical career
• Professionalism through the patient’s eyes
• Individual, community and organizational professionalism

The event will be a great opportunity to learn from national and international physician and professional health care experts about current innovations in teaching, promoting and evaluating professionalism. E-mail info@abimfoundation.org if you are interested in attending. Space is limited.

Join the Community

• Costs of Care, with support from the ABIM Foundation, recently launched the Teaching Value in Health Care community on Google+. This growing community enables educators across the country to share ideas on advancing stewardship in medical education. Join the community.
• On a quarterly basis, the ABIM Foundation convenes health system leaders who are implementingChoosing Wisely via conference call/webinar. This meeting offers a forum for system leaders who want to share their projects and discuss both best practices and barriers to implementation. To join a Health System Leaders, e-mail info@abimfoundation.org.

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