Summit History
The Physician Accountability for Physician Competence Initiative was instigated by the Federation of State Medical Boards to engage the medical community in a dialog about the future of healthcare in the United States - with the ultimate goal of answering the question:
How does the profession of medicine identify, measure and evaluate the ongoing competence of its members to assure the public of its commitment to accountability?
This document can be used as a briefing document for the Physician Accountability for Physician Competence Initiative.
Search All Summits
The following brief descriptions are provided as an overview of the activities to date including all Summits and the Discovery Workshop. You can search through the documentation from all of these events and find all instances of a specific term or phrase by using the search box below. NOTE: this does not search the wiki pages which must be done from inside the wiki itself.
- Summit I 3/23/05
- Summit II 12/7/05
- Summit III 6/27/06
- Summit IV 1/14/07
- Discovery Workshop I 8/27/07
- Summit V 12/5/07
- Summit VI 7/7/08
- Summit VII 2/22/09
Summit I: March 23-25, 2005
On March 24 – 25, 2005, a group of leaders drawn from a broad cross section of healthcare came together for two days in Fort Worth, Texas, for the first Physician Accountability for Physician Competence Summit. The focus of this summit was to begin a dialogue about the future of physician self-regulation by exploring the context within which physicians will be expected to demonstrate accountability in the year 2020.
Stimulated by the book, Solving Tough Problems, by Adam Kahane this first meeting focused on identifying and prioritizing the trends and developments that are influencing the healthcare delivery system in the United States and then using this information to develop scenarios about what that system might look like in 2020. The scenarios were intended to be used during subsequent meetings as the context within which to explore solutions to the question “how does the healthcare community evaluate and measure physician competence over the career of the physician?”
To encourage as broad a dialogue as possible about this issue, summit participants were asked to solicit feedback from their respective organizations on the scenarios’ plausibility and possible implications on their organizations’ constituencies. A summary document containing these scenarios was developed and distributed to support this ongoing dialog and feedback.
To view the complete Summit I documentation, please click here.
Summit II: December 7-9, 2005
A second summit took place in Chicago on December 8 – 9, 2005. The goal of the second meeting was to continue exploring how physician competence should be measured and evaluated in the future, using the scenarios and the feedback received from various stakeholder groups as the context for that discussion.
Participants explored many possible options for how physician competence might be measured and evaluated in each of the five future states. At the conclusion of the meeting, the group had developed the following:
- a draft definition of competence;
- a draft table of contents for a document describing the behaviors and values one would expect of a competent physician;
- drafts of several models of regulatory systems to stimulate further conversation about measuring and evaluating physician competence in 2020; and
- a timeline and task list for activities that needed to occur over the next 12 to 16 months.
The group also endorsed the notion of creating a “national alliance” of organizations focused and aligned around the goal of ensuring physician competence.
To view the complete Summit II documentation, please click here.
Summit III: June 27-29, 2006
During a third summit on June 28 – 29, 2006 in Philadelphia, participants began writing content for the “good medical practice” document and developed more fully the concept of a National Alliance. Discussions about the relationship between maintenance of licensure and maintenance of certification and about how to engage the practicing community and the public in this effort were also initiated. It was evident by the end of the meeting that a shift in “ownership” for the initiative occurred as participants proactively began to identify and tackle issues and challenges that will need to be resolved if the vision of having a uniform, meaningful system for assuring the continuing competence of physicians is to be realized. An even more illustrative indicator of the shift were the generous pledges by participants to a request for financial and human resources to keep the national dialogue moving forward over the next 12 months.
To view the complete Summit III documentation, please click here.
Summit IV: January 14-16, 2007
Between Summit III and Summit IV several work groups further developed some draft documents to be used as catalysts for conversations in the fourth Summit. A proposal for the formation of a National Alliance on Physician Competence, an outline for a Trusted Agent/Portfolio System could look like and a further iteration of the draft of the Good Medical Practice document, were completed prior to the Summit.
65 participants representing 42 different organizations convened in Tampa, Florida on January 14–16, 2007 for Summit IV.
In the Summit the group examined how a "continuum of competence" encompassing the system that includes Medical Schools, Residency Programs, Licensure, Specialty Certification, Credentialing and Privileging, the Accreditation of Institutions, and the long-term Maintenance of the physician's Competency throughout one's career might be impacted if something like a Good Medical Practice document and a Trusted Agent/Portfolio System were in use.
At the end of this Summit participants decided to take the Good Medical Practice document through one more iteration of writing and editing before distributing this to get feedback from a broader constituent group. The group also decided to contiue to explore the formation of a National Alliance for Physician Competence but wanted to delay formalizing the organization while they take time to learn about the various options for an organizational structure. Several organizations are taking part in small pilot demonstrations to model the secure sharing of data and how something like a Trusted Agent/Portfolio system could work.
To view the complete Summit IV documentation, please click here.
Discovery Workshop: August 27-29, 2007
On August 27-29, 2007, InnovationLabs convened a Discovery Workshop at Catalyst Ranch in Chicago. The purpose of this event was to introduce new concepts and models around complex adaptive systems to the group of people developing what might now become the National Alliance for Good Medical Practice (a vehicle to assure the public of physician competencies). Six “catalysts” were invited to present research and experiences from fields as diverse as complexity science, network theory, and non-profit scaling models. The participants used these new concepts to craft visions for the Alliance, its structure, its functions and its development path. These visions will serve as input for the next Summit to be held in Dallas on December 5-7, 2007.
To view the complete Discovery Workshop documentation, please click here.
Summit V: December 5-7, 2007
Focus: GMP-USA, Measuring Competence, National Alliance, Infrastructure for Data Sharing
Between Summit IV and Summit V the Good Medical Practice document was edited and distributed to a broader constituent group for input and feedback. A web site was set up (http://gmpusa.org) and version 0.1 was made available for review.
Summit V took place on December 6-7, 2007 in Dallas, Texas. Based on overwhelming feedback from participants at the January summit in St. Petersburg about needing to expedite progress on several fronts, the December meeting was organized as three “mini” summits which took place simultaneously. Each mini-summit focused on a specific “track” of work emerging from previous meetings. The three tracks of work were:
- Track 1: Sustaining the Effort
- Track 2: Measuring Competencies
- Track 3: Infrastructure for Information Exchange
To view the complete Summit V documentation, please click here.
Summit VI: Baltimore on July 7-9, 2008
The focus of this Summit began with a focus on the environment and ways in which physician competence is changing. The group developed the first draft of a shift document - articulated the major shifts taking place throughout medicine. The group began to look at which of those shifts, if any, would be something the Alliance could infuence. A working group was formed at the end of the Summit to work on publishing an article about the shifts and another working group was formed to look at strategic opportunities inherent in the shifts.
The GMP-USA document was edited and the group determined it was ready for publishing as version 1.0. The document is now called Guidelines for Good Medical Practice. This document is now available on the gmpusa.org web site. It is open for comments and the document will be updated periodically based on the input received.
Further work on the GMP-USA will be to administer a survey for input on the bullets that now make up the appendix.
The group also began working on a companion document that addresses the system Conditions for Good Medical Practice.
During the Summit some work was done to develop a staffing plan for the Alliance and the group developed a participant agreement.
At the end of this Summit the group determined they needed a steering committee. Volunteers stepped up and it was determined the steering committee would have term limits - three peope with one year terms and two years with two year terms. The terms began in August 2008.
To view the complete Summit VI documentation, please click here.
Summit VII: February 22-24, 2009
Summit VII took place in Orlando, Florida on February 22-24, 2009
This Summit continued building upon the work from the previous Summit. The group continued to add definition to the shifts taking place in physician competence - and also started to articulate strategies that might help the shifts move forward. At the same time the group began to define a culture of continuous learning and improvement and to identify strategic objectives for the Alliance based on the participant agreement developed in the previous Summit.
GMP-USA was updated to remove the need for sidebar comments and the group decided to make the document available for continual input and comments from readers and users. Further dissemination of the document is encouraged.
A small group will continue to develop the shift document for publication.
Strategic priorities were developed for the group and the need for staff support between Summits was identified as important to move the work of the Alliance further between Summits.
At this Summit there were several conversations begun that started to look at aligning parts of the continuum of competence. One group began discussing aligning CME and Performance Improvement efforts while another group began discussing the alignment of maintenance of competence and maintenance of licensure.
At the end of the Summit the participants decided to have a small group revisit the business plan developed several years ago and update that for dissemination to participants by April 16, 2009. The business plan will also include the updated participant agreement, a pro-forma of uses of funds to date and a request for support in dollars or in-kind.
View the complete Summit VII documentation.
If you have any questions regarding the material posted here please contact Carol Clothier from the Federation of State Medical Boards at 817.868.4042 or Michael Kaufman from InnovationLabs at 510.903.0652.