QUESTION:
Our health system has been increasingly recruiting more foreign trained physicians.  However, our Credentials Policy requires that these physicians be either ABMS or AOA Board certified.  Although a temporary waiver may be issued in the interim, our system would still require that these physicians become Board certified in their respective specialties.  Given that they went to medical school in a different country and completed post-graduate training abroad, is that even possible?

ANSWER FROM HORTYSPRINGER ATTORNEY NICHOLAS CALABRESE:

Yes, this is possible and due to the increasing trend of foreign trained physicians practicing in U.S. hospitals, the ABMS and AOA Boards have created certain alternative pathways for internationally trained physicians.  The ABMS has published this chart which shows which member boards are open to foreign training.  As shown, almost 80% of the ABMS member boards do accept international training.  Unfortunately, that does not tell the whole story and the requirements for each individual board vary widely.  Certain boards offer partial credit to foreign trained physicians but still require them to be enrolled in an ACGME approved residency program.  Others have “exceptionally qualified candidate” programs which allow for such physicians who have completed three years of training outside the U.S. to apply for a fellowship.  After completing this fellowship, they may then sit for the board certification exam.

Overall, we haven’t found an ABMS member board that allows foreign trained physicians to get complete credit for their training and automatically sit for the certification exam.  Instead, your system must endeavor in a case-by-case analysis depending on the specialty that the foreign trained physician practices in to determine whether it would be feasible to require that physician to obtain ABMS certification.

If you have a quick question about this, e-mail info@hortyspringer.com.