Become Certified
Training Requirements
Verify a physician’s certification status and learn more about board eligibility, physician status, and withdrawal of certification status below.
Medical School Requirements
- An MD degree from a United States or Canadian medical school that is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Committee for Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools, or a DO degree from a college of osteopathic medicine accredited by the American Osteopathic Association is required.
- If you are an international medical graduate, recipient of a Standard Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates certificate, or in compliance with other Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requirements for entry into U.S. graduate medical training, you may qualify for entry into an ACGME-accredited residency that would meet training requirements for initial certification.
Family Medicine Residency Training Requirements
You must complete 36 calendar months (with 12 months in each training year) in an ACGME-accredited family medicine residency program. ABFM recommends all three years of your family medicine residency training occur in the same ACGME-accredited program, or its equivalent (e.g., Flexible/Transitional Year, AOA Osteopathic Internship, etc.). However, we recognize circumstances may occur that lead you to change specialty and/or location of residency training. In these cases, your residency program must notify ABFM via the Resident Training Management (RTM) system that you are entering training with advanced placement credit. The necessary information must be submitted before you begin training at a new program to avoid extending the duration of your training.
The last two years of your family medicine residency training must be completed in the same accredited program to allow for satisfactory continuity of care experience. Transfers after the beginning of PGY-2 are approved only in extraordinary circumstances. All education and training experiences are subject to review by ABFM before you are approved to take the Family Medicine Certification Examination (one-day exam).
Your residency program must comply with ACGME Institutional Requirements and the Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Family Medicine. Any variance from these requirements may risk your eligibility to take the one-day exam. If you have any questions regarding compliance with these requirements, please discuss with your Program Director, ACGME, or ABFM.
