BoardVitals

BoardVitals operates as a specialized online platform for medical and healthcare education, focusing on certification preparation. Founded in 2012 by Dr. Andrea Paul, a physician, and Dan Lambert, a software developer and Harvard Business School graduate, the company addresses the challenge of rapidly outdated information in traditional medical textbooks. Dr. Paul's own frustrating experience with disorganized and obsolete study materials during her residency at Yale inspired the company's creation. She left her residency program to team up with Lambert, who had previously co-founded and sold a tech startup, to build a more effective, centralized study solution.

The firm's core business revolves around providing digital question banks, continuing medical education (CME) modules, and practice exams for a wide range of medical professionals, including physicians, residents, students, and nurses. Its clients are both individuals and institutions, such as top-tier medical schools, residency programs, and hospitals like Harvard Medical School and Yale Medical School. The business model is subscription-based, aggregating high-yield content from major publishers, universities, and leading practitioners into a single, cohesive platform. This content covers over 50 specialty areas and is continuously updated based on user feedback and ratings, ensuring the most relevant material is prioritized. Revenue is generated from these subscriptions sold to individuals and institutional clients.

BoardVitals' product is an extensive ecosystem of training materials designed for medical board exams, recertification (MOC), and in-service exams. A key feature is the ability for users to create customized practice tests, allowing them to focus on specific subject areas. The platform provides detailed feedback on performance, including peer comparisons and evidence-based rationales for every answer, not just the correct ones. This allows users to understand the reasoning behind diagnoses and treatments. For certain programs, the company offers an "Ask a Clinician" feature for additional support and a pass guarantee. BoardVitals was acquired by Ascend Learning, a major provider of educational content and software solutions.

Keywords: medical education, board review, CME, continuing medical education, physician training, medical student, residency prep, MOC, maintenance of certification, question bank, exam preparation, healthcare certification, nursing exams, USMLE prep, COMLEX prep, medical specialties, clinical education, edtech, healthcare technology, Andrea Paul, Dan Lambert