he ABIM Foundation is working to advance an understanding of what it means for physicians to be professionals in a world in which they face new ethical challenges. This understanding is embraced by "Medical Professionalism in the New Millenium: A Physician Charter" (pdf).

There is renewed interest in professionalism as the public comes to understand the limits of other strategies to assure and improve quality, such as regulatory initiatives and "pay-for-performance". The Foundation believes that the best assurance of quality may still be that a doctor is committed to—and behaving in accordance with—the principles that define medicine as a profession. Several projects are focused on these professionalism issues.