MedManagement Monthly

Credentialing

 By Machelle Giordon, Credentialing Specialist

Hospitalist Board Created

The American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) recently announced the formation of the first Board of Certification devoted exclusively toHospitalists.

The American Board of Hospital Medicine, according to its founders, is not a subspecialty board, but a fully fledged board designed to certify practitioners in one of the country’s fastest growing specialties. According to a 2007 American Hospital Association survey, there are 27,000 hospitalists practicing in the United States, and they are represented on the staffs of more than half of the country’s community hospitals. The establishment of a separate certification board is a logical step in response to the growing perception that hospitalists make up a separate medical specialty. Residency programs are reflecting the increasing interest in the specialty by developing hospitalist tracks, and a few major medical schools have developed fellowship programs geared toward hospitalist medicine.