The American Board of Radiology announced Thursday that it will hold all exams remotely through 2022.
ABR made the switch away from hosting in-person testing earlier this year, following physician requests during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial months of remote administration have gone well, and now ABR plans to continue with this new normal next year.
The Tucson, Arizona-based doc-certification group did not have comment on the decision late Thursday, May 27. But ABR did post testing dates for 2022 on its website. Those include the Radioisotope Safety Exam in diagnostic and interventional radiology slated for January 10, and subspecialty exam in nuclear radiology the same day. Dates are to-be-determined for Oral Certifying exams in interventional and diagnostic radiology, along with medical physics, and radiation oncology.
The ABR has not yet determined whether virtual exam administration will continue in 2023, a spokesman said. Leaders announced in April that the board is also changing the name of its controversial maintenance of certification program and eyeing fee reductions in 2022.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.