The ABPN requires that throughout the initial certification and maintenance of certification processes, physicians must have a valid, unexpired, and unrestricted license to practice medicine in at least one state, commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States or province of Canada. If more than one license is held, all licenses must all be unrestricted to meet this requirement.
Additionally, physicians who are board certified by the ABPN (called ABPN Diplomates) must have successfully completed an approved training program and an evaluation process assessing their ability to provide quality patient care in a specialty and/or subspecialty. These evaluation processes formulate the core of our business and are encompassed in our initial certification examinations and Maintenance of Certification Program.
More information on the ABPN licensure and exceptions policy, the maintenance of certification process, and other requirements for Board certification, may be found on this website.
There are many organizations involved in taking active measures to ensure high standards of individual physicians’ and health-care organizations’ quality of care to the public. Some of these organizations may be able to provide patients and their families with information via their websites. The ABPN website provides links to other websites that contain information published by institutions and organizations independent of the ABPN. For patient information about physician board certification and what it means, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) provides a website — Certification Matters — as a resource to the public to learn more about how continuous board certification goes above and beyond basic medical licensure.
To qualify to sit for examination, an applicant must:
See the specific Information for Applicants document for information on each exam. These Information for Applicants documents contain our requirements for admissions to examinations, examination procedures, specific training requirements, and content descriptions.
All training must be confirmed either by way of the ABPN preCERT® system or by submitting documentation noting the completion of training requirement.
If you are unable to activate your ABPN Physician Folios account, you may need to submit a request to apply for the examination. This process may take up to three business days. Therefore, we encourage applicants to allow enough time to submit the request prior to the deadline for applications. The deadline for submission of a completed application depends on the specialty or subspecialty. See more information on this website.
*Applicants for specialty certification examinations who do not yet have an unrestricted medical license because they are in training are not required to submit a copy of their medical license at the time of application for the examination. However, such applicants must submit a copy of their active, full, unrestricted medical license with expiration date no later than September 2 of the year of the examination. If the Board office does not receive the medical license by September 2, the application will be denied and the Board will retain the application fee and any late application fee.
For candidates and diplomates
• Apply for an exam
• Update and track MOC information
For training directors and coordinators
• Update resident training details
• Print Graduate Performance Reports
For the public and credentialers
• Search for Board certified physicians
• Verify certification status
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc.
2150 E. Lake Cook Road, Suite 900, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089Phone 847.229.6500 | Fax 847.229.6600