After attempts to reschedule test-taking during the pandemic, the American Board of Radiology announced Wednesday that it’s delaying most exams until next year, save for a few slated for December.
The Tucson, Arizona-based doc-certification group said it has been “carefully following” the crisis all year and is “cognizant of the impact” it’s had on the field. Due to the remaining public health threat and uncertainty, its leaders have decided to hold off on administering testing in Chicago and its hometown in 2020.
“We deeply regret any inconvenience this scheduling change may cause, but our primary concern is for the health and well-being of exam candidates, our examiners, our staff and the public,” the board said in a June 3 blog post. “We recognize the stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on you and your families, as well as the disruption to your exam preparation.”
ABR first announced that it was delaying testing back in early March, before the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. At the time, it had hoped to administer examinations in May and June, but was forced to pivot later that month as the situation worsened.
Postponed exams include the Diagnostic Radiology Subspecialty test slated for Oct. 4 in Arizona and Illinois, among several others. You can find the full list here. Meanwhile, ABR is still planning to administer MP Parts 1 and 2 and RO Radiation Biology and Physics and Clinical, both in early December.
Some had hoped that the board might make an exception and allow for virtual test-taking in 2020, but that is not the case. Ben White, MD, a Texas neuroradiologist and blogger, criticized the board for its decision on Thursday.
“The only solutions to the problem of high-stakes medical exams right now are disseminated ones, and the number of other boards moving to virtual exams continues to grow steadily,” he wrote June 4. “Centralized nationwide travel is simply a nonstarter, and the delays here only serve to lengthen the duration of the ABR’s missed opportunity to do the right thing.”
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.