Leadership Corner – June 2023 TEST FILE

June 26, 2023

A Follow-Up Commentary on the Endocrinology Subspecialty Exam ABIM Pass Rates – The Sobering News Continues for the 2022 Exam

Greg Hong, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Program Director, Endocrinology & Metabolism Fellowship
Pituitary Program, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine
University of Virginia Health System

One year later after my initial commentary on the surprising decline in our Endocrinology ABIM pass rates (https://www.apdem.org/program-director-corner/a-commentary-on-the-2021-endocrinology-subspecialty-exam-abim-pass-rates/#:~:text=Of%20note%2C%20the%20pass%20rate,nadir%20of%2074%25%20for%202021) the Endocrinology Program Director (PD) community finds ourselves in a similarly grim situation – the pass rate for 1st time test takers in 2022 remains a discouraging 74% (same as 2021), which represents the lowest pass rate of any internal medicine subspecialty.  In comparison, the average Endocrinology pass rate for the 3 year period from 2018 through 2020 was 88%.  This decline in pass rates over the past 2 years (an almost 15% drop in absolute pass rates) is particularly noteworthy as it is limited to Endocrinology and was not seen to a similar degree in other internal medicine subspecialties.  Certainly it can be noted that other specialties have seen declines in their pass rates over the past 2 years, but none of them have fallen as precipitously as Endocrinology.

Over the past year, the ABIM, with participation from APDEM, has begun analysis of potential reasons for this surprising decline.  Of note, the data obtained so far is specific to the 2021 exam, as we do not have detailed analysis of the most recent 2022 exam available yet.  However I expect that whatever factors contributed to poor 2021 performance are likely still contributing to the poor performance in 2022. A summary of the findings to date, which were presented at the annual APDEM meeting in May 2022, are presented below, with my commentary also included.