The American Board of Internal Medicine Places Equity Over Excellence

As a medical board tasked with certifying internal medicine physicians, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is supposed to be a gatekeeper for medical excellence.

But under the guise of promoting “health equity” and DEI, ABIM has increasingly injected identity politics and racialism into its mission.

ABIM’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategic Plan lays bare this agenda.

The plan’s goals include: “Develop and implement programs that address the racial and ethnic disparities in health care”; “Influence the education and training of board certified internists to equip them with the skills and awareness to recognize and prevent healthcare disparities and to promote health equity”; and “Intentionally create and foster partnerships to exponentially expand the impact of ABIM’s efforts in addressing systemic racism and disparities in health care, in the healthcare profession, in the provision of health care and the outcomes of that care.”

This politicization isn’t limited to internal statements. Consider how ABIM is staffing its Approval Committees – the groups that approve the assessment content for certification and maintenance of certification. 

When seeking a new cardiologist for its Cardiovascular Disease Approval Committee, ABIM made a point to especially “encourage” applications from “under-represented minorities.” 

It also stated a preference for candidates with expertise in “health equity, health disparities, and/or social determinants of health.” These are ideological criteria, not clinical ones.

To further demonstrate how these ideas have pervaded the certification process, consider the ABIM’s “Health Equity Statement.”

This statement explicitly states that ABIM “include[s] health equity content in our assessments, based on science and evidence related to health disparities.”

“Equity” should not be a concern when deciding whether physicians meet certification standards. 

Rather, merit and medical expertise should be the sole focus determining that a physician meets board certification standards. The certification process should select for physicians who have the requisite medical knowledge, skills, and clinical judgement to provide high-quality patient care; whether or not they are versed in certain political narratives regarding the causes of health disparities is irrelevant to that mission.

An ABIM-certified physician should have expertise in the field of internal medicine, not expertise in navigating a divisive ideology.