About the Foundation

The ABFM Foundation (Foundation) was formed in 2000 as a separate legal entity with its own board of directors and qualifies under IRS code as a 501(c)(3) supporting organization to the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM). The primary purpose of the Foundation is to support ABFM’s mission.

The mission of the ABFM is summarized as follows:

Certification

ABFM certifies family physicians who are highly skilled and effective at improving the health of their patients, their families, and their communities, and assists Diplomates in maintaining high professional standards through professional development and lifelong learning.

Training Standards

ABFM sets standards for the training that prepares Family Medicine residents for board certification.

Research

ABFM funds, conducts, and publishes research that is devoted to creating, evaluating, and maintaining cutting-edge certification methods, and to advancing the scientific basis of Family Medicine.

Leadership Development

ABFM cultivates leaders in Family Medicine to expand the specialty’s contribution to the health of the public.

Collaboration

ABFM collaborates with other specialty boards and organizations to promote better health care, drive better outcomes, and manage health care resources responsibly.

The Foundation supports the mission of the ABFM through its own activities that generally focus on education, training and research efforts. Recent examples include efforts to identify and evaluate quality metrics that capture the contributions of family medicine; support of Family Medicine for America’s Health; creation of a fellowship for international family physician educators to learn about best practices in family medicine education; the establishment and evaluation of the Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice and Length of Training initiatives; a national collaborative to improve onboarding of medical students and engagement of family medicine preceptors; the Strengthening Outcomes and Assessments in Residencies (SOAR) initiative in collaboration with AFMRD; supporting the Advancing Innovation in Residency Education (AIRE) initiative of the ACGME, and leadership training initiatives. As of July 1, 2018, the ABFM Foundation houses the Center for Professionalism & Value in Healthcare.