Services & Resources for Health Care Organizations

Partner with the NBOME to Create your Customized Assessment Services

Since 1934, the NBOME has been recognized for excellence in osteopathically distinct physician assessment. The Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA (COMLEX-USA) is the examination series used for osteopathic medical licensure. Passing this examination series assures the public that osteopathic physicians have met an established national standard for osteopathic medical knowledge and clinical skills.

Each year, thousands of osteopathic medical students and physicians access our osteopathically distinct examinations that are supported by extensive validity and reliability evidence. By delivering reliable high-quality assessments and learning tools, the NBOME fulfills its mission to protect the public and provide assessments of the highest quality for osteopathic medicine and related health care professions. The NBOME strives at all times to adhere to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing¹. These examinations are created by experts in osteopathic medicine and medical assessment. We are proud that these leaders serve as members of the NBOME Board, our National Faculty, and our professional staff.

The success of COMLEX-USA, COMAT, and our other core examinations has enabled the NBOME to create customized assessment services for partner organizations and clients. We are experts at offering an ever-expanding range of services and resources for assessing competency in osteopathic medicine and related health care professions across the medical continuum, from medical school and residency to certification/recertification and continuing professional development.

We work with partner organizations to create customized assessment programs built on our successful examination platform to meet their individual assessment needs.

Our Assessment Partners

The NBOME works to anticipate the emerging and evolving assessment needs of our clients and partner organizations by offering a range of options built on our experience in providing assessment services. We collaborate with specialty colleges and academies, certification/recertification boards, and licensure assessment organizations to provide highly customized assessment services in osteopathic medicine and related health care professions to enhance assessment and improve patient care.

Currently, we support nearly 25 collaborative assessments administered to thousands of examinees. We continually enhance and expand services for these testing programs, including exam administration, design, development, delivery, and results, along with expertise in test blueprinting, item development, medical editing, item-writer training, rater training, standardized patient training, score reporting, and support in collaborative research projects.

The NBOME’S Assessment Partners
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD)	Resident In-Service Examination
American Board of Cosmetic Surgery (ABCS)	Certification Examination – Computer-based and Oral
American Board of Facial Cosmetic Surgery (ABFCS)	Certification Examination – Computer-based
American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS)	Certification and Recertification Examinations – Computer-based
American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS)	Certification Examination – Oral
American College of Diabetology (ACD)	Certification Examination – Computer-based
American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP)	Resident In-Service Examination and Clinical Osteopathic Recognition Training Examination (CORTEx)
American College of Osteopathic Internists (ACOI)	Resident In-Service Examination
American Osteopathic Board of Anesthesiology (AOBA)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Dermatology (AOBD)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Family Practice (AOBFP)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (AOBNMM)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Neurology & Psychiatry (AOBNP)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology (AOBOG)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Ophthalmology & Otolaryngology (AOBOO)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Orthopedic Surgery (AOBOS)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics (AOBP)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AOBPMR)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
American Osteopathic Board of Surgery (AOBS)	Osteopathic Continuous Certification
National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE)	Consultative Services
National Board of Examiners in Optometry (NBEO)	Consultative Services
National Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners (NBPME)	Consultative Services
Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS)	Consultative Services

¹ Standards for educational & psychological testing (2014 edition). American Educational Research Association website.

How Can We Help You?

Summative Assessment

Providing summative assessments of medical knowledge and related competencies is a major component of the NBOME’s expertise. Our test development professionals follow nationally recognized best practices for ensuring security, legal defensibility, and psychometric standards including reliability and validity evidence.

Building on this foundation, we provide testing services and support to partner organizations customized to their needs. These services include exam development, production, and administration, as well as psychometric analyses and scoring.

Content Development

• Item and rationale development, item and rationale editing, test development, and other support for customized exams
• Computerized item-banking (question repository services)
• Item-and rationale-writing review meetings, workshops, and seminars
• Performance assessment
• Ongoing learning and continuing medical education online resources

Exam Production & Administration

• Exam production in a variety of formats, including computer-generated
• Interfacing and coordination with suppliers to deliver computer-based examinations in a secure testing environment, via the web, and at our testing partner locations nationwide
• Examinee verification
• Online test registration and credentialing
• Exam-day delivery services for in-service examinations, including registration, proctor-training, and test-day support
• In-service examination delivery services, including registration, proctor training, and test-day support

Psychometric & Scoring Services

• Classical item analysis and scoring
  • Reporting on individual and cohort performance
• Item response theory (IRT) item and test form analyses, calibration, scaling, and equating
• Standard-setting studies and consultation

Formative Assessment

The NBOME also provides formative assessments to complement its core high-stakes summative assessments. These formative assessments can help learners prepare for their high stakes examinations by presenting additional learning opportunities and user-focused remediation.

CATALYST is the NBOME’s assessment for learning. CATALYST is a convenient, easy to use online platform that presents immediate feedback with learning resources to help physicians and health care professionals learn and retain practice-relevant knowledge. Unlike assessments that offer a single view into a learner’s performance, assessments on the CATALYST platform are designed to measure progress over time, making them ideal vehicles for lifelong learning, focused remediation, continuous professional development, and recertification.

Clinical Skills Testing Consultation

Clinical skills assessments of students and practicing physicians are a vital component of many health care examinations. These certification, recertification, and licensure assessments require highly sophisticated performance evaluations that simulate live encounters between health care professionals and patients, complementing and augmenting traditional summative assessments of medical knowledge.

Our experience with administering the COMLEX-USA Level 2-Performance Evaluation to tens of thousands of osteopathic medical students between 2004 and 2020 provides a solid foundation that supports partners with planning, launching, and maintaining a robust clinical skills assessment program customized to their needs.

Contact us for more information about how our clinical skills examination expertise can support your assessment needs.

Virtual Oral Examination

Since 2020, the NBOME has administered virtual oral examinations for multiple client organizations.

Contact us for more information about how our virtual oral examination expertise can support your assessment needs.

Resources for Practicing Physicians

Lifelong Learning & Continuing Medical Education (CME)

As a practicing osteopathic physician, you can rely on the NBOME to support your needs for continuous professional development.

The NBOME Learning Center offers on-demand online learning activities, as well as live webinars and events for osteopathic physicians and other health care professionals to earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits and meet American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists (BOS) Osteopathic Continuous Certification (OCC) requirements. Learning Center programs can be accessed anytime, anywhere.

Contact us for more information about how our resources can support your continuous professional development and lifelong learning as an osteopathic physician or in a related health care field.