For Physicians and Medical Specialists

Each ABMS Member Board has different requirements and it is best to contact the particular board directly. Generally speaking, candidates for initial Board Certification must:

• Finish four years of premedical education in a college or university;
• Earn a medical degree (MD, DO or other credential approved by an ABMS Member Board) from a qualified medical school;
• Complete three to seven years of full-time experience in a residency training program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education;
• Provide letters of attestation from the program director and/or faculty; and
• Obtain an unrestricted medical license to practice medicine in the United States or Canada.

Candidates for initial certification must then pass an exam created and administered by their specialty’s board. A similar eligibility process is followed for certified specialists seeking subspecialty certification. Candidates must be certified by their specialty board, then complete additional training during or after residency and successfully complete assessments of knowledge and clinical judgment in their subspecialty discipline before being granted certification in a subspecialty.

Each ABMS Member Board has different requirements and it is best to contact the particular board directly.

Each ABMS Member Board has different requirements. Most doctors begin the certification process at some point during their residency training. Check with the specific ABMS Member Board for requirement details.

To receive a copy or replacement, contact the Member Board that issued the original certificate.

If you are a physician and have changes to make to your profile, please contact your Member Board. Please ask that the information you provide be given to ABMS to update its database.

The information in the ABMS certification database is supplied by the Member Boards according to their established schedule. The database is refreshed daily, but occurs only after the information received from the Member Boards is thoroughly reviewed and verified by ABMS for completeness and accuracy. Once this process is complete, the information is incorporated into the database and made accessible through ABMS Solutions’ products and ABMS licensee partners. The information is displayed within the ABMS Board Certification Credentials Profile, which is officially recognized as primary source documentation by the Joint Commission, NCQA, URAC and other key accrediting agencies.

• In the case of newly certified physicians, the certifying Member Board submits information within two weeks of when the physician is formally notified or the physician’s certification status is publicly displayed.
• Information about a physician’s MOC status is provided by the certifying Member Board according to their established MOC cycle.
• Physicians also may make a request of their certifying Member Board to update personal information in their record, such as a name change or home or business address. The Member Board provides this information to ABMS.

Each ABMS Member Board has different requirements and it is best to contact the particular board directly.

To find out the requirements, contact the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates at (215) 386-5900.