Physician Board Certification Continues to Grow--920,000+ in US are Board Certified

American Board of Medical Specialties Releases Its Annual Board Certification Report

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American Board of Medical Specialties

Dec 01, 2020, 11:00 ET

CHICAGO, Dec. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 920,000 physicians in the United States are board certified—up 4.5 percent from 880,000 just two years ago—and more than half of that number is from just 10 states. These are just a few statistics found in the latest ABMS Board Certification Report released by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).

ABMS 2019-2020 Certification Report is now available.

The board certification process was created more than 100 years ago as a rigorous, independent evaluation of a physician's experience, knowledge, and skills. Today, board certification supports continuous assessment and professional development activities.

For more than 45 years, this annual report has illustrated the continued importance of board certification as a public credential. Several entities use ABMS data as the definitive guide to specialties and board certification in the U.S. For example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses ABMS certification data for its popular "Physician Compare" web site.

The 2019-2020 ABMS Board Certification Report offers a variety of information about the 40 specialty and 87 subspecialty certification programs administered by the 24 Member Boards that comprise ABMS. This 60-page report also includes a snapshot of the active certificates held by ABMS Member Board certified physicians by state.

Report highlights include:

In 2019, the 24 Member Boards awarded 31,933 new specialty certificates and 13,434 new subspecialty certificates.
Colorful charts and infographics that break down important data, such as state-by-state listings of the number of board certified physicians in each specialty.
A table that illustrates Approved Focused Practice Designations by Member Board.

Top 10 States for Board Certified Physicians

California (108,341)
New York (70,490)
Texas (61,890)
Florida (50,797)
Pennsylvania (41,029)
Illinois (36,432)
Ohio (32,388)
Massachusetts (30,474)
New Jersey (27,162)
North Carolina (26,959)

5 Top Specialty Certifying Boards

Internal Medicine (244,172)
Pediatrics (108,447)
Family Medicine (92,929)
Psychiatry and Neurology (73,554)
Radiology (60,499)

To verify if your doctor is board certified, visit the free www.CertificationMatters.org.

Published annually, the ABMS Board Certification Report can be downloaded for free from the ABMS website. This report reflects information reported by the 24 ABMS Member Boards and data from the ABMS certification database, which contains more than one million records. The database is updated daily with information received from Member Boards and is considered a primary source for professional certification verification. ABMS offers www.CertificationMatters.org, a free online tool that the public can use to verify that their doctors are board certified.

About ABMS
Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is the leading not-for-profit organization overseeing physician certification in the United States. ABMS supports 24 Member Boards that develop educational and professional standards and programs of assessment to certify physician specialists, all dedicated to improving the quality of care to the patients, families and communities they serve. More than 920,000 physicians are certified in one or more of 40 specialties and 87 subspecialties offered by the ABMS Member Boards. For more information about ABMS, visit abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

SOURCE American Board of Medical Specialties