Connect with our team and find out more about the importance of board certification through one of the 24 ABMS Member Boards.
Having a board certified doctor matters to people.
Good health depends on great health care. People want the best care possible and expect their doctors to be board certified.
In a 2025 survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago regarding board certification, 93 percent of respondents indicated that board certification is important when choosing a doctor.
Four in five survey respondents agreed that board certified doctors provide higher-quality care and have more expertise.
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is the gold standard in board certification.
For more than 90 years, ABMS has earned the public’s trust by setting the highest standard of care. More than one million physicians hold an active certification from one or more of the 24 ABMS Member Boards.
To ensure their assessments meet these standards, certifying boards must require a doctor to periodically pass a test of current knowledge and skills throughout their entire career. Doctors who meet ABMS standards participate in ongoing testing to demonstrate that they stay up to date with the latest advances in medicine. This is important because medical information keeps evolving long after doctors leave medical school.
ABMS board certified doctors provide peace of mind.
Survey respondents agree that knowing their doctor is board certified instills confidence and gives them peace of mind. That’s important to patients and their families, but also to hospitals and health systems where doctors work and to the insurance companies that include them in their networks.
Multiple studies* by various ABMS Member Boards have shown a strong inverse relationship between certification and the risk of disciplinary actions by state medical boards.
Collectively, studies of doctors in certain specialties suggest that board certified doctors:
- Provide more efficient and accurate diagnoses
- Adhere to clinical treatment guidelines
- Stay abreast of medical advances
- Maintain safer prescribing practices
- Commit to quality improvement
People expect doctors to stay up to date. Survey respondents have high expectations and:
98%
expect doctors to keep current with the latest medical advances in their specialty
95%
expect doctors to participate in ongoing education to ensure they’re up to date
93%
expect doctors to be required to demonstrate that their knowledge remains up to date with the latest advances
90%
expect doctors to be formally tested on their knowledge beyond just earning continuing medical education credits
Learn about the ABMS difference
The recognized and trusted leader by the public and profession.
Not all board certification programs are created equally.
Physicians certified by an ABMS Member Board can help hospitals and health systems meet their multiple goals.
Talk to ABMS about board certification.
The 24 Member Boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties
| American Board of Allergy and Immunology | American Board of Neurological Surgery | American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation |
| American Board of Anesthesiology | American Board of Nuclear Medicine | American Board of Plastic Surgery |
| American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery | American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology | American Board of Preventive Medicine |
| American Board of Dermatology | American Board of Ophthalmology | American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology |
| American Board of Emergency Medicine | American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery | American Board of Radiology |
| American Board of Family Medicine | American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery | American Board of Surgery |
| American Board of Internal Medicine | American Board of Pathology | American Board of Thoracic Surgery |
| American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics | American Board of Pediatrics | American Board of Urology |