I recently spoke with Ramon W. Johnson, MD, MBA, who is currently the president of the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM). He joined me for our annual conversation between ACEP Now and ABEM to answer some questions from practicing emergency physicians. Our conversation has been edited for space and clarity.

Dr. Dark: Our profession is composed of over 44,000 ABEM certified emergency physicians, about 96 percent of whom are EM residency trained. I’ve been listening to some of the more senior docs out there, and especially across specialties, many of whom are getting tired of certifying boards and maintenance of certification. They are asking the question, “Why don’t I just get board certified by an alternate board?” Or, in some circumstances saying, “Why don’t I just go ahead and let my certification lapse?” What is ABEM’s value proposition for physicians considering those options?

Dr. Johnson: I truly believe that there is not really an excellent alternative board out there. You may be aware that one of the alternative boards was recently discussed at the AMA and the AMA basically said that [other] certifying board didn’t meet up to the expectations or the quality that they feel is necessary for a certifying board. I think it’s important to understand that certifying boards have a responsibility to the public and it not only means that they must assure initial certification meets a certain standard and that standard needs to be an objective standard, but that continuing certification is also critical for that standard to be met. And very few alternate boards out there are doing anything like that now.

Dr. Dark: Let’s talk a little bit about that initial certification. Conversations among younger physicians have noted that the oral examination is moving from a virtual platform back to an in-person platform. During the pandemic many things transition to virtual, including the oral boards. Why the change back? Why not stay virtual?

Dr. Johnson: It was never the intent that we would continue to have a virtual examination. I do think that if you look at the American Board of Medical Specialties, more than half of the boards do have a type of oral exam and the majority of those that went virtual because of the pandemic have now basically gone back to and in-person exam. When you look at the format of the virtual exam, there’s clearly some limitations in what we can do with that type of format. And we know that we can create a better way of evaluating physicians by going back to in-person. There are some things we just cannot examine adequately in the virtual setting. It’s really, to the benefit, not only of the public but to the physicians, that we go back to an in-person exam.