General Policies & Requirements
- Special Training Policies
- Other Policies
- Board's Evaluations and Judgments
- Board Eligibility
- Reporting Certification Status
- Representation of Certification Status
- Errors and Disruptions in Examination Administration
- Confidentiality Policy
- Licensure
- Disabled Candidates
- Substance Abuse
- Suspension and Revocation of Certificates
- Irregular Behavior on Examinations
- Re-examination
Special Training Policies
TopDisclosure of Performance Information
Trainees planning to change programs must ask their current program and the Board to send written evaluations of past performance to the new program. These requests must be made in a timely manner to ensure that the new program director has the performance evaluations for review before offering a position. A new program director may also request performance evaluations from previous programs and from the Board concerning trainees who apply for a new position. The Board will respond to requests from trainees and program directors by providing any performance evaluations it has in its possession and the total credits accumulated toward the Board's training requirements for Certification. This information will include the comments provided with the evaluation.
TopDue Process for Evaluations
The responsibility for the evaluation of a trainee's clinical competence and moral and ethical behavior rests with the program, not with the Board. The Board is not in a position to re-examine the facts and circumstances of an individual's performance. As required by ACGME in its Essentials of Accredited Residencies in Graduate Medical Education, the educational institution must provide appropriate due process for its decisions regarding a trainee's performance.
TopLeave of Absence and Vacations
Trainees may take up to one month per year of training for vacation, parental or family leave, or illness (including pregnancy-related disabilities). Training must be extended to make up any absences exceeding one month per year of training. Vacation leave is essential and cannot be forfeited.
TopDefinition of Full-time Training
Full-time training is defined as daily assignments for periods of no less than one month to supervised patient care, educational, or research activities designed to fulfill the goals of the training program. Full-time training must include systematic clinical observation with formative and summative evaluation of performance by faculty and senior trainees.
TopReduced-Schedule Training
Interrupted full-time training is acceptable, provided that no period of full-time training is shorter than four weeks. In any 12-month period, at least six months should be spent in training. Patient care responsibilities should be maintained in a continuity clinic during the non-training component of the year at a minimum of one-half day per week. Board approval must be obtained before initiating an interrupted training plan. Part-time training, whether or not continuous, is not acceptable.
TopOther Policies
TopBoard's Evaluations and Judgments
Candidates for Certification and Maintenance of Certification agree that their professional qualifications, including their moral and ethical standing in the medical profession and their competence in clinical skills, will be evaluated by the Board, and the Board's good faith judgment concerning such matters will be final.
The Board may make inquiry of persons named in candidates' applications and of other persons, such as authorities of licensing bodies, hospitals or other institutions as the Board may deem appropriate with respect to such matters. Candidates agree that the Board may provide information it has concerning them to others whom the Board judges to have a legitimate need for it.
The Board makes academic and scientific judgments in its evaluations of the results of its examinations. Situations may occur, even through no fault of the candidates, that render examination results unreliable in the judgment of the Board. Candidates agree that if the Board determines, in its judgment, that the results of their examination are unreliable, the Board may require the candidates to retake an examination at its next administration or other time designated by the Board.
TopBoard Eligibility
The Board does not use, define or recognize the term "Board Eligible."
TopReporting Certification Status
The Board will routinely report through its website, or by mail, whether candidates are certified (including dates) or not certified. If a diplomate was previously certified, the dates of former Certification will be reported. If Certification is revoked or suspended, the Board will report that fact. On a candidate's written request to the Board, the following information will also be provided in writing: (1) that an application is currently in process and/or (2) the year the candidate was last admitted to examination.
TopRepresentation of Certification Status
Diplomates of the Board must accurately state their Certification status at all times. This includes descriptions in curriculum vitae, advertisements, publications, directories and letterheads. Diplomates with expired time-limited certification may not claim board Certification and must revise all descriptions of their qualifications accordingly. When a physician misrepresents Certification status, the Board may notify local credentialing bodies, licensing bodies, law enforcement agencies and others.
TopErrors and Disruptions in Examination Administration
Occasionally problems occur in the creation, administration and scoring of examinations. For example, power failures, hardware and software problems, human errors or weather problems may interfere with some part of the examination process. When such problems occur, ABIM will provide the affected candidates with an opportunity for re-examination. Re-examination shall be the candidate's sole remedy. ABIM shall not be liable for inconvenience, expense or other damage caused by any problems in the creation, administration or scoring of an examination, including the need for retesting or delays in score reporting. In no circumstance will ABIM reduce its standards as a means of correcting a problem in examination administration.
TopConfidentiality Policy
ABIM considers the Certification or recertification status of its candidates and diplomates to be public information.
ABIM provides a diplomate's Certification status and personal identifying information, including mailing address, e-mail address and social security number, to the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) which publishes The Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists. FSMB and ABMS use personal identifying information, including social security numbers, as a unique internal identifier and maintain the confidentiality of this information. On request, ABIM provides a diplomate's Certification status and address to the professional medical societies that provide educational resources relevant to the Maintenance of Certification program.
ABIM provides residency and fellowship training directors with information about a trainee's prior training and pass/fail status on certifying examinations. If a trainee has given permission, ABIM will provide the program director with the trainee's score on his/her first attempt at the Certification examination for that area of training. ABIM uses examination performance, training program evaluations, self evaluations of knowledge and practice performance, and other information for research purposes, including collaboration with other research investigators and scientific publications. In such research, the Board will not identify specific individuals, hospitals or practice associations. All practice performance data is HIPAA compliant.
ABIM reserves the right to disclose information it possesses about any individual whom it judges has violated ABIM rules, engaged in misrepresentation or unprofessional behavior, or shows signs of impairment.
TopLicensure
All candidates for Certification and maintenance of Certification must possess a valid, unrestricted, and unchallenged medical license in the jurisdiction where they practice. Candidates with licenses that are restricted, suspended, revoked or surrendered in lieu of disciplinary action in any jurisdiction will be denied certification or recertification. Restrictions include but are not limited to conditions, contingencies, probation and stipulated agreements.
TopDisabled Candidates
The Board recognizes that some candidates have physical limitations that make it impossible for them to fulfill the requirement for proficiency in performing procedures. For such individuals, the procedural skills requirement may be waived. Program directors should write to the Board for an exception before the individual enters training or when the disability becomes established.
The Board is committed to offering suitable examination accommodations for all candidates, including individuals with disabilities. When necessary, alternative arrangements under conditions comparable to those provided for other candidates are offered to disabled individuals. Candidates who need accommodation for a disability during an examination must provide a written request to the Board at the time of application for examination. The Board will then inform the candidate of the documentation that must be received by the Board no later than the examination registration deadline. Reapplication for special accommodation is not required for each examination administration unless a new accommodation is requested. The Board treats requests for accommodations as confidential. For additional information about the process and documentation requirements, please contact the Board at accommodations@abim.org, or refer to Take the Exam: Testing Accommodations for Exam Takers with Disabilities.
TopSubstance Abuse
If a candidate or a diplomate has a history of substance abuse, documentation of at least one year of continuous sobriety from a reliable monitoring source must be submitted to the Board for admission to an examination or to receive a certificate. The Board treats such information as confidential.
TopSuspension and Revocation of Certificates
The Board may, at its discretion, revoke or rescind Certification if the diplomate was not qualified to receive the certificate at the time it was issued, even if the certificate was issued as a result of a mistake on the part of the Board. It may also revoke the certificate if the diplomate fails to maintain moral, ethical or professional behavior satisfactory to the Board, or engages in misconduct that adversely affects professional competence or integrity. It may revoke or suspend the certificate if: (1) the diplomate made any material misstatement of fact or omission of fact to the Board in connection with application or to any third party concerning the diplomate's Certification status; or (2) the diplomate's license to practice medicine has been revoked, suspended, restricted or surrendered in lieu of disciplinary action in any jurisdiction. A physician may petition the Board for reinstatement of suspended Certification upon restoration of unrestricted licensure. If the Board grants the petition, and upon such conditions as the Board may require, the physician must complete the Board’s Maintenance of Certification program. Upon successful completion of the Maintenance of Certification program, the physician will be granted a new time-limited certificate consistent with the current policies of the Board.
TopIrregular Behavior on Examinations
The Board's examinations are copyrighted and administered in secure testing centers by test administrators who are responsible for maintaining the integrity and security of the Certification process. Test administrators are required to report to the Board any irregular or improper behavior by a candidate, such as giving or obtaining information or aid, looking at the test material of others, removing examination materials from the test center, taking notes, bringing electronic devices (e.g., beepers, pagers, cell phones, etc.) into the examination, failing to comply with time limits or instructions, talking, or other disruptive behavior. In addition, as part of its effort to assure exam integrity, ABIM utilizes data forensic techniques that use statistical analyses of test-response data to identify patterns of test fraud, including cheating and piracy.
Irregular or improper behavior that is observed, made apparent by data forensics, statistical analysis, or uncovered by other means will be considered a subversion of the Certification process and will constitute grounds for invalidation of a candidate's examination.
Other actions that the Board may take at its discretion include exclusion from future examinations and informing program director(s), licensing bodies, impaired physicians advocacy groups, or law enforcement agencies of ABIM's actions.
TopRe-examination
Candidates who are unsuccessful on an examination may apply for re-examination. To be granted admission, candidates must meet all applicable licensure, professional standing and procedural requirements. As long as these requirements are met, there is no restriction on the number of opportunities for re-examination.
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