Mission
To enhance the quality of health care by certifying internists and subspecialists who demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for excellent patient care.
Certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine
Since its founding in 1936 to answer a public call to establish more uniform standards for physicians, Certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 20 subspecialties. Certification has meant that internists have demonstrated – to their peers and to the public – that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care.
ABIM is not a membership society, but a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public.
Quick facts about ABIM Certification
- ABIM certifies approximately one out of every four physicians in the United States.†
- There are more than 200,000 ABIM Board Certified physicians.††
- Learn more about ABIM's history in the infographic 80 years of promoting excellence in health care.
The subspecialties of Internal Medicine include:
Adolescent Medicine
Adult Congenital Heart Disease
Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology
Cardiovascular Disease
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
Critical Care Medicine
Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism
Gastroenterology
Geriatric Medicine
Hematology
Hospice & Palliative Medicine
Infectious Disease
Interventional Cardiology
Medical Oncology
Nephrology
Neurocritical Care
Pulmonary Disease
Rheumatology
Sleep Medicine
Transplant Hepatology
Research suggests board certification is associated with better care.‡ ABIM continuously strives to improve its Certification, Maintenance of Certification (MOC) and assessment tools. Collecting information about you and about your practice provides us with accurate information about the face of the profession and enables us to make our Certification and assessment processes more appropriate, accurate and effective for your benefit. Learn more about how ABIM uses physician data for research.
American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)
ABIM is one of 24 medical specialty boards that make up the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
Through ABMS, the boards work together to establish common standards for physicians to achieve and maintain board certification. The boards were founded by their respective specialties to protect the public by assessing and certifying doctors who meet specific educational, training and professional requirements. ABMS is an independent, non-profit organization. For more information about ABMS, visit www.abms.org.
Sources:
- † 2012 ABMS Certificate Statistics (pdf)
- †† Number of Candidates Certified (pdf)
- ‡
Reid RO, Friedberg MW, Adams JL, McGlynn EA, Mehrotra A. Associations between physician characteristics and quality of care. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(16):1442-9.
Chen J, Rathore SS, Wang Y, Radford MJ, Krumholz HM. Physician board certification and the care and outcomes of elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction. J Gen Intern Med. 2006;21:238-44.
Curtis JP, Luebbert JJ, Wang Y, Rathore SS, Chen J, Heidenreich PA, Hammill SC, Lampert RI, Kromholz HM. Association of physician certification and outcomes among patients receiving an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. JAMA. 2009;301(16):1661-70.