The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology's (ABOG) approach to help reduce health care disparities began with its strategic plan set by its Board of Directors in 2016. Based on that plan, ABOG began taking tangible steps to advance its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within its role as an OB GYN certifying board. Visit this page periodically to check on ABOG's progress.
Key Milestones:
2016: ABOG's Board of Directors formally commits to DEI in strategic plan
2018: Study of unconscious bias conducted within Certifying Examination process
2018: Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program introduces articles concerning OB GYN-related health disparities and biases
2019: Specialty and Subspecialty examiners trained to identify and manage unconscious bias; training now a standard annual requirement
2020: Internal task force made up of ABOG staff members created to thoroughly study organizational/operational gaps relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion
2020: Ad hoc DEI Committee formed within ABOG Board of Directors to work in conjunction with internal task force
2021: ABOG begins collection of demographic data through its application processes to ensure fair and equal opportunity across demographics and mitigate possible biases in certification standards and examinations
2021: MOC renames "Patient Safety and Communications" articles category to "Health Equity and Patient Safety" and continues (since 2018) ongoing offerings of articles concerning health-related disparities and biases
2021: Unconscious bias training video implemented as a 2021 MOC requirement for diplomates
2021: Board of Directors approves formation of a DEI Policy Committee to ensure ongoing DEI objectives are developed and implemented relative to certification
2021: ABOG begins conducting differential item functioning analyses to investigate fairness and potential biases within initial certification processes
2022: Self-nomination processes introduced for volunteer positions (examiners and board member nominations)
2022: PAUSE video for unconscious bias introduced as requirement for new ABOG employee onboarding