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First board certification for hospitalists announced -- with caution

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, January 27, 2009

The American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) this month announced the new American Board of Hospital Medicine, which offers board certification exclusively for inpatient specialists for the first time ever, according to the Jan. 12 ABPS press release.

In response, however, the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) President Pat Cawley, MD, sent an e-mail notification to its members two days later stating SHM has no affiliated ties with ABPS: “The Society of Hospital Medicine is in no way affiliated with the American Board of Physician Specialties and was not involved with the creation of the so-called American Board in Hospital Medicine,” said Crawley in the press release.

In addition, the ABPS is not part of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) or any of the ABMS member organizations, such as the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), or the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), which hospitalists are more familiar with.

“It is the opinion of SHM’s board of directors, hospitalist leaders from all practice settings, that the best recognition for hospital medicine is the one that is the most rigorous and most widely accepted by hospitals, payers, employers, other physicians, and our patients. These are the boards that are sanctioned by ABMS, such as ABIM, ABP, and ABFM,” said Cawley.

The ABPS is a non-profit organization based in Tampa, FL. Acquiring hospitalist board certification from ABPS includes a multiple-choice and single-response written exam at a computer testing center, according to the ABPS Web site. The test costs $1,575 or another $700 to retake the test, according to the site.

SHM is currently working with the ABMS on developing board certification for hospitalists. SHM expects to share details before May.

At the time of publication, the ABPS press office did not respond to inquiries from HCPro.

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