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JAMA. 1999;282:1882.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Increasingly, hospitals and managed care organizations are requiring that staff physicians be certified by a specialty board. The American Medical Association (AMA) encourages medical students and resident physicians to learn about specialty board certification, including the process, requirements for initial certification and recertification, and the implications of not achieving board certification. Advance planning in the certification process is critical for success.

When the first nationally recognized medical specialty board was established in 1917, board certification was seen as a way for professional peers to grant formal recognition of a physician's qualifications in a chosen field. Then, as now, it was a voluntary process. However, board certification is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity to gain credentialing privileges on hospital staffs and participate in managed care plans. In addition, nearly every board has begun issuing time-limited certificates, thus requiring recertification every so many years.

Each specialty board . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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