Learn what it means for a doctor to be Board Certified. Board certification by one of the 24 ABMS boards is granted when physicians meet additional requirements beyond their medical licensure granted by state government. Every few years, board-certified doctors are required to show they have kept their certification current through the ABMS Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process. Board certification is not a guarantee of top medical care, but it is a credential that is highly respected by fellow physicians. This describes the basics that every consumer should know. ABMS stands for American Board of Medical Specialties.
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has approved 24 specialty boards, linked here. To learn more about the meaning of Board Certification in a certain specialty, for example Emergency Medicine, or Family Medicine, or the different boards for Surgical specialties, you can start your search here. ABMS lists the approved boards that certify specialists in 127 specialties and subspecialties