ABEM certification brings increased income and professional pride. Certification in EM has been a point of professional pride among physicians since it became a medical specialty in 1979. Certification also brings additional job opportunities (especially with the substantial growth of subspecialty opportunities offered to certified physicians) Did you know that ABEM-certified physicians as a whole earn $1 billion more each year than physicians who are not certified? That translates to more than $25,000 per year per physician!
ABEM brings value to certified physicians and the specialty in a number of ways.
- We invest in the specialty and in ABEM-certified physicians.
- We transformed continuing certification to incorporate learning with the implementation of MyEMCert.
- We added new CME opportunities.
- We reduced medical merit badge requirements working with other EM organizations.
- We advocate to preserve certification standards and physician-led care.
We invest in the specialty and in ABEM-certified physicians. ABEM financial reserves increased with the stock market boom that started in 2007. We were able to turn those gains into a bonus for physicians.
- We have been able to keep fees fixed for ABEM certification activities.
- $10 million was issued in refunds and credits to emergency physicians who would have incurred higher recertification costs in the transition to a five-year certification cycle.
- In 2015, the first ABEM-endowed fellowship with the National Academy of Medicine was awarded. The fellowship furthers research in EM and expands the voice of the specialty in the house of medicine.
- ABEM has endowed a second NAM fellowship to begin in 2022.
- None of the costs to develop MyEMCert—the new recertification process requested by ABEM-certified physicians—were passed on to physicians.
We transformed continuing certification to incorporate learning with the implementation of MyEMCert.
- MyEMCert is unlike any other specialty’s continuing certification program that allows physicians to learn during the process of staying certified.
- The Key Advances component accelerates learning by highlighting some of the most clinically relevant emerging literature.
- A multimedia component was incorporated that provides an alternate way to view the content of Key Advances synopses.
We Added CME Opportunities
We underwrote free CME from the AMA for obtaining and continuing certification—almost 4,000 physicians have received over 200,000 CME credits.
- ABEM partners with CME providers (AAEM and ACEP) to offer low-cost CME for recertification activities.
We advocate to preserve certification standards. This sets certified physicians apart.
- ABEM certification differentiates physicians from non-certified physicians and non-physician providers.
- ABEM received accreditation by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, an organization that defines quality standards in professional certification.
- ABEM-certified physicians have a lower instance of actions on their medical licenses than non-certified physicians.
- Physicians who actively participate in continuing certification can often have merit badge activities (e.g., ACLS requirements) waived through the efforts of the Coalition on Medical Merit Badges.
ABEM will continue to explore ways to provide physicians’ additional value in becoming and staying ABEM certified.