Meetings

ABPMR Staff Presents Research on the Impact of Email Reminders on Assessment Engagement at ABMS Conference

ABPMR staff presented a research poster at the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Members Boards Conference held in Chicago in September.

The poster was the result of a year-long research project aimed at determining if regular email communications effectively encourage PM&R diplomates to complete their quarterly longitudinal assessment questions by assessing email open rates and tracking real-time user traffic following each reminder.

Data were collected over four consecutive quarters within 2025 using the ABPMR LA-PM&R platform. A total of 9,114 respondents answered at least one question and were included in the analysis.
Email notifications were sent four to five times per quarter at standardized intervals: at the start of the quarter to announce question availability, at the midpoint, two weeks prior to closing, and three days prior to closing. Response timestamps were captured automatically through the platform and linked to notification timing to evaluate whether reminders were associated with increased response activity.

Our results revealed that email notifications had a substantial impact on assessment response rates, with each reminder producing incremental increases in engagement throughout the quarter. This effect was most pronounced as the deadline approached, with response activity continuing to rise through the close of each quarter. The consistency of this pattern across all four quarters suggests that a structured notification schedule is an effective strategy for maximizing assessment completion rates.

From left to right: Diane Bur (Senior Data Analyst), Judi Spann (Communications Director), Mikaela Raddatz, PhD (Director of Psychometrics and Research), and Stephen Huesing (Assistant Director of Certification Operations).