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Board Certified: What Does It Really Mean?

Board Certified: What Does It Really Mean?When looking for a surgeon, you'll see many surgeon websites mention "board certified", but to most people there's little meaning to this. Adding to the confusion is that there's little opportunity to weigh the relative value of seemingly similar certifications and credentials. This is unfortunate because understanding board certification is critical for surgery patients. Here's what you need to know about board certification.

  • Board Certified: Term signifying that a doctor is qualified for specialization by one of the certification boards. Qualification includes completing an approved residency and passing a rigid exam. Read more »
  • Board Eligible: Term signifying that a doctor has completed an approved residency but has not yet taken the exam given by one of the recognized boards. The term conveys no official status in the eyes of the ABMS. Read more »
  • Self-Designated Medical Specialties: In addition to the approved list of specialties and subspecialties, there is a wide variety of other doctors, and groups of doctors, who may call themselves specialists. At present, there are at least 100 such groups of self-designated medical specialists. Read more »

Board Certification

With an MD or DO degree and a license, an individual may practice any kind of medicine with or without additional special training. For example, doctors with a license but no special training may call themselves plastic surgeons. This is why board certification is such an important factor. 

First, it's necessary to differentiate between state board certification and board certification by a specialty board. All physicians in the USA must be state board certified to practice, but sometimes this is misrepresented as being board certified by one of the authoritative specialty boards.

For those practicing with an MD degree, twenty-five specialties are recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). For DO providers, eighteen boards certify in 106 specialties under the sponsorship of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). There's also the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS), the smallest of the three organizations overseeing board certification in the United States. Doctors who have qualified for such specialization are called board certified; they have completed an approved residency and passed the board's exam. Board certified doctors are referred to as Diplomates of the Board.

American Board of Medical Specialties

There is one ABMS board in particular that is relevant to your surgeon search: the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS)—the only ABMS board to certify doctors in the specialty of plastic surgery. Requirements for membership in the ABPS:

Other ABMS boards which may be relevant to your surgeon search: American Board of Urology (ABU) and the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ABOG), for Urogynecologists.

You might come across surgeons who are "double board certified." Usually this refers to certification with the American Board of Surgery in addition to the American Board of Plastic Surgery. However, it could also mean additional certification by a self-designated board (see below.)

To find out if your surgeon is board certified by one of the ABMS boards, search here:
www.certificationmatters.org/find-my-doctor/

American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists

Established in 1939, the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists (AOABOS) is a non-profit entity that oversees board certification for Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) in the United States. The relevant specialty board is the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery (AOBS.)

Requirements for membership in the AOBS with a specialty in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery:

  • Graduation from an AOA-accredited College of Osteopathic Medicine.
  • Completion of three years of training in General Surgery
  • As well as:
    Two years of training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery;
    An AOA-approved and completed residency program in Orthopedic Surgery;
    An AOA-approved and completed residency program in Otolaryngology/Facial Plastic Surgery.

To find out if your surgeon (D.O.) is board certified by the AOBS, search here: doctorsthatdo.org

American Board of Physician Specialties

The American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) is the smallest of the three organizations overseeing board certification in the United States. Not to be confused with the ABMS specialty board the American Board of Plastic Surgery, the ABPS provides board certification to both M.D. and D.O. physicians.

Requirements for membership in the ABPS with a specialty in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery:

  • Hold active and unrestricted medical license(s) to practice
  • 50 hours of Continuing Medical Education, with at least 25 of those hours being related to Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery;

IMPORTANT: In California and New York, physicians certified by ABPS  are prohibited from using the term "board certified" unless they are also certified by an American Board of Medical Specialties board.

To find out if your surgeon is board certified by the ABPS, search here: www.abpsus.org/public-inquiries

Board certification is a good standard by which to measure competence and training. You can be confident that doctors who are board certified have at a minimum the proper training in their specialty and have demonstrated their proficiency through supervision and testing. While there are many non-board certified doctors who are highly competent, it is more difficult to assess the level of their training. Naturally, board certification alone does not guarantee competence, but it is a standard that reflects successful completion of an appropriate training program. 

"Board Eligible" Does NOT Mean Board Certified

There are doctors without board certification who are highly competent, including many who have been more recently trained and are waiting to take the boards. They are sometimes described as "board eligible," a common term that is, however, frowned upon by the ABMS. Board eligible means that the doctor has completed an approved residency and is qualified to sit for the board exams. Most of the specialty boards permit unlimited attempts to pass the exam. Only the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) continues to use and recognize the term board eligible. The other boards neither use the term, nor sanction its use. The description "board eligible" should not be viewed as a real qualification, especially if a doctor has been out of medical school long enough to have taken the certification exams. To the boards, a doctor is either board certified or not. In some cases, doctors who have failed the exams twice continue to call themselves board eligible.  In osteopathic medicine, the board eligible status is recognized only for the first six years after completion of a residency. 

Self-Designated Medical Specialties 

In addition to the ABMS and AOA approved list of specialties and subspecialties, there is a wide variety of other doctors, and groups of doctors, who may call themselves specialists. There are, at present, at least 100 such groups called self-designated medical specialties. They range from doctors who are working to create a recognized body of knowledge and subspecialty training to less formal groups interested in a particular approach to the practice of medicine. As an example, the American Board of Plastic Surgery is one of the ABMS recognized boards, while Cosmetic Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery, and Maxillofacial Surgeons are self-designated medical specialties. 

These groups may or may not have standards for membership. There is no way of determining the true extent of their members' training, and they are not recognized by the ABMS or the AOA. While you should be cautious of doctors who claim they are specialists in these areas, many do have advanced training, and the groups at least offer a listing of people interested in a particular approach to medical care. Rely on board certification to assure yourself of basic competence, and use membership in one of these groups to indicate strong interest and possible additional training in a particular aspect of medicine. 

Some states, like California, have passed laws prohibiting physicians from advertising self-designated boards; only the recognized ABMS boards can be advertised. However in some states one can claim to be "Board Certified" even though the certification comes from a self-designated board.

Outside the United States? In Canada, look for certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC.) International plastic surgeons should be board certified in their country of origin and be a member of International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) and International Confederation of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (IPRAS).

The landscape of board certification is not particularly transparent to consumers. In fact, it's downright confusing. Hopefully, this article has prepared you with what you need to know about board certification in your search for a surgeon.

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Last updated: 04/25/19