Family Medicine Certification demonstrates to your patients and peers that you have made a commitment to maintaining high professional standards and engaging in lifelong learning and assessment. 

Family Medicine Certification serves to ensure your patients and the public that you are highly skilled and effective at improving their health by having met the specific residency training requirements and continuing to maintain high professional standards. Established by family physicians, Family Medicine Certification is a voluntary specialty credential beyond state licensure that demonstrates your ongoing proficiency in the competencies required of a family physician. 

Participating in the Family Medicine Certification process assures that you are critically evaluating your practice, acquiring new skills, and adapting your practice to changing patient health needs. As a family physician who is seeking to become board certified, benefits you will realize include: 

  • Improved quality of care for your patients through participation in the Family Medicine Certification process

  • Recognition by patients, hospitals, insurers, caregivers and other physicians that you have met high standards of physician quality

  • Continuous self-assessment of medical knowledge that supports your dedication to lifelong learning and maintaining quality and safety in your practice

  • Support for professional self-regulation within the specialty of Family Medicine

Numerous studies have demonstrated the value of Family Medicine Certification in improving knowledge, improving the quality of care delivered, and evidence of professionalism.

Patients place faith in board certification and expect that it reflects ongoing education and practice improvement. They often seek information about their physician’s certification through ABFM’s Find a Physician portal or through the American Board of Medical Specialties Certification Matters website.

The American Board of Family Medicine is one of the member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). The mission of the ABMS is to serve the public and the medical profession by improving the quality of health care through setting professional standards for lifelong certification in partnership with its Member Boards. More information about ABMS Board Certification can be found here.