Recognition of Subspecialty Boards In Emergency Medicine

Approved by the ACEP Board of Directors August 2007 

ACEP recognizes the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) as the only umbrella organizations authorized to establish and regulate medical specialty boards in the United States.¹ 

ACEP recognizes and supports the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM), and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) as the certifying bodies in emergency medicine and pediatric emergency medicine.² 

ACEP believes the broad discipline of emergency medicine provides opportunities for the development of focused areas of special competence and expertise. The ABMS and AOA provide mechanisms whereby a parent board can recognize such special competence through subspecialty certification or certificates of added qualification. Through these processes, ABEM and AOBEM offer appropriately trained and credentialed diplomats the opportunity to sit for examinations to demonstrate their special competence. Successful candidates are awarded subspecialty certification or a certificate of added qualification.³ 

ACEP recognizes only those emergency medicine subspecialty certifications developed and maintained through the ABMS / AOA process.

1. Recognition of Certifying Bodies in Emergency Medicine, ACEP BOD approved October 2000
2. ACEP Recognized Certifying Bodies in Emergency Medicine, ACEP BOD Policy approved October, 2002
3. Appropriately trained and credentialed ABEM diplomats are eligible to sit for certification examinations in the subspecialties of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Medical Toxicology, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Sports Medicine, and Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. AOBEM diplomats are eligible to sit for examinations to establish Certification of Added Qualification in Emergency Medical Services, Medical Toxicology, and Sports medicine.