Dr. Eric Holmboe, President and CEO of Intealth® and a globally recognized voice in medical education, has co-authored a new article in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The piece explores practical strategies for advancing competency-based medical education (CBME) and its impact on patient care and professional development.
Published on July 23, 2025, “Competency-Based Medical Education at the Front Lines of Patient Care,” co-authored with lead author Dr. Dawn Cooper, calls for a shift away from traditional, time-based training models toward an outcomes-oriented approach that ensures physicians are prepared for the responsibilities of unsupervised clinical practice. It highlights key goals of CBME, including patient safety, team-based care, health equity, and systems improvement.
Positioning CBME as a moral imperative rather than a technical reform, the authors advocate for educational models that place patient needs at the center, invest in faculty development, and engage trainees as active participants in their learning.
“Continuing with a model that does not reliably prepare all physicians for the responsibilities of unsupervised clinical practice should not be desirable by anyone,” said Dr. Holmboe. “CBME provides an evidence-informed path rooted in clear expectations about health care and educational outcomes, and a commitment to improving quality, safety, and equity.”
The article also offers guidance on how CBME can be implemented in clinical environments and underscores the critical roles of program leaders, clinician-educators, and learners. It emphasizes the importance of collective responsibility and coordinated action to bring about sustainable change in medical education.
Dr. Holmboe’s work in CBME reflects Intealth’s mission to advance the quality of health care worldwide through excellence in medical education and assessment. Through its ECFMG® and FAIMER® divisions, Intealth continues to contribute to global conversations around educational accountability, physician readiness, and the evolving responsibilities of the profession.
Read the full article in The New England Journal of Medicine: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2411880
