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Founded in February 1969 as the American Board of Family Practice (ABFP), the group was the 20th medical specialty to be recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties and was formed out of a need to encourage medical school graduates to enter general practice. It adopted its current name in 2005.
Physicians with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree are required to pass the USMLE for medical licensure. However, those with a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree (DO) are required to take the COMLEX-USA (COMLEX) exams but may also sit for the USMLE as well. [10] [11] States may enact additional testing and/or licensing requirements. [12]
Family medicine [note 1] is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. [2] [3] The specialist, who is usually a primary care physician, is named a family physician.
The board is one 18 medical specialty certifying boards of the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), [2] and was established in 1972. As of April 2012, 6,344 osteopathic family physicians held active certification with the AOBFP. [3]
Although there is no legal requirement for a physician to attain it, some hospitals may demand that physicians be board certified to receive privileges. [1] The commonly used acronym BE/BC (board eligible/board certified) refers to a doctor who is eligible or is certified to practice medicine in a particular field.
A physician who specializes in "family medicine" must now complete a residency in family medicine and must be eligible for board certification, which is required by many hospitals and health plans for hospital privileges and remuneration, respectively. It was not until the 1970s that family medicine was recognized as a specialty in the US. [41]
The ABPS, the official certifying body of the American Association of Physician Specialists (AAPS), is the United States' third largest recognized physician multi-specialty certifying body, providing physician board certification re-certification for thousands of physicians in following 20 medical specialties: [6] Administrative medicine ...
IMG physicians are more likely to enter primary care specialties than US MD physicians. [16] As of 2007, IMG physicians represented 36% of internal medicine physicians, 29% of anesthesiologists, 31.4% of psychiatrists, 28% of pediatricians, 17.8% of family physicians, 17.8% of OB/GYNs, 18.8% of radiologists and 20% of general surgeons. [16]