National Defense Authorization Act Recognizes ABMS Member Boards in New Legislation Defining Physician Certification Organizations

ABMS News Release (01/31/25)

The Defense Health Agency has designated the 24 American Board of Medical Specialties Member Boards as physician certifying organizations. The Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025, which was signed into law in December 2024, sets the standards for recognition of physician certifying bodies. The law states that organizations seeking to be recognized as such must maintain a process to define, periodically review, enforce, and update certain standards regarding knowledge and skills of the specialty or subspecialty; administer a psychometrically valid assessment to determine whether a physician or medical specialist meets the standards for initial certification, recertification, or continuing certification; establish and enforce a code of professional conduct; and mandate that a physician or medical specialist meet the certifying body's requirements for initial certification and recertification or continuing certification requirements of the certifying body that granted the initial certification. The standards were created based on definitions of certification programs by the Institute for Credentialing Excellence and the American Medical Association.

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