Primary Specialty Certification
Practice Pathway: Acceptable Practice Activities
Practice Pathway: Counting Practice Activity Time
Practice Pathway: Graduate Biomedical Informatics Coursework
Primary Specialty Certification
Will AOA or Canadian board certification fulfill the primary specialty certification requirement?
Yes; primary specialty certification through an ABMS Member Board, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC), or the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) will meet the primary certification requirement.
I have not maintained my primary specialty board certification, but I have maintained my subspecialty certification. Will my current certification meet primary specialty board certification requirements to be eligible for Clinical Informatics certification through the ABPM?
Some ABMS boards consider maintaining subspecialty certification as meeting the primary specialty certification requirements. In those cases, the individual is deemed certified in the primary specialty. Primary specialty certification status is determined by each individual board. For more information about qualifying primary specialty certificates, please visit the ABMS website.
Primary specialty certification is a core requirement. Physicians must possess current primary specialty certification through an ABMS Member Board, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC), or the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).
Can I be eligible for Clinical Informatics certification if I am not currently certified through an ABMS Member Board?
Current primary specialty certification is a core requirement to be eligible for the Clinical Informatics certification exam.
Current primary specialty certification through an ABMS member board, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC), or the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) will satisfy this requirement.
Practice Pathway: Acceptable Practice Activities
What types of practice activity will count toward Clinical Informatics Practice Pathway requirements?
Practice activities that count toward Practice Pathway requirements must fall into one of the following categories:
- Health IT leadership and governance
- Electronic health record systems
- Clinical decision support systems
- Healthcare analytics
- Technology needs assessment
- Informatics-related educational activities
- Other informatics-related activities.
The practice setting (e.g., clinical, academic, or industry) does not affect the acceptabilty of practice activity.
When describing my Clinical Informatics practice activities, how much detail should I include?
In the descriptions of your practice, you should provide evidence that you are involved in broad-based, subspecialty-level Clinical Informatics practice.
Subspecialty-level Clinical Informatics practice must go beyond that of a manager, supervisor, subject matter expert, advisor, consultant, researcher, or champion. In your description, avoid phrases like, "involved in," "worked closely with," or "provided expertise for."
Can I fulfill a portion of Practice Pathway requirements during my residency or a non-Clinical Informatics fellowship through electives, research, or other activities?
Research, electives, or other activities completed during residency do not count toward Practice Pathway requirements.
Research time during a non-Clinical Informatics fellowship may count toward Practice Pathway requirements, provided that: 1) the fellowship training is not used to satisfy eligibility requirements for another board certification and 2)the research conducted is substantial, Clinical Informatics-related, and can be demonstrated through publications or presentations.
Any other activities completed during a non-Clinical Informatics fellowship do not count toward Practice Pathway requirements.
Will completion of AMIA's 10x10 course count toward Practice Pathway requirements?
ABPM encourages applicants to include in their application any coursework which may supplement their practice experience. Completion of AMIA's 10x10 course may be counted for up to three months of practice time.
During my healthcare system's electronic health record implementation, I provided medical expertise so order sets could be built and I created documentation templates. Will these activities count toward Clinical Informatics Practice Pathway requirements?
Content expertise does not qualify as significant, subspecialty-level Clinical Informatics practice and, therefore, it does not count toward Practice Pathway requirements.
Practice Pathway: Counting Practice Activity Time
How many hours per week, on average, must I work in Clinical Informatics to be eligible for the certification exam through the Practice Pathway?
Practice time must occur over at least ten hours per week (i.e., 25% of a full-time, 40-hour-per-week position) on average to count toward practice pathway requirements.
Applicants will document the average number of hours they work in Clinical Informatics per week and must include detailed descriptions of their Clinical Informatics activities.
I worked one month in decision support at .15 FTE and another month in informatics research at .10 FTE. Will this combined effort count as one month at .25 FTE?
No, these activities cannot be combined to count as one month at .25 FTE. However, if both activities had occurred during the same month, they could be added and may count toward practice pathway requirements.
For 12 months, I worked a varying amount of hours in Clinical Informatics. In some months, my Clinical Informatics work averaged six hours per week (.15 FTE) while other months it averaged 20 hours per week (.5 FTE). Will this year count toward the practice requirements of the Practice Pathway?
Yes, if your Clinical Informatics work activity averaged .25 FTE, or ten or more hours per week, it may be counted toward Practice Pathway requirements.
Practice Pathway: Graduate Biomedical Informatics Coursework
I completed a graduate degree in Clinical Informatics. Will this count toward Practice Pathway requirements?
Completion of a Clinical Informatics graduate degree program may fulfill the practice time requirements of the Practice Pathway. To request credit for your graduate coursework, please provide your graduate program transcript and curriculum.
How can I tell if my graduate degree program will count toward Clinical Informatics Practice Pathway requirements?
ABPM does not maintain a list of "approved" graduate-degree programs. ABPM evaluates each graduate-degree program is evaluated individually. In its review, the Board considers the number of credit hours completed (regardless of time spent in the program), course descriptions provided by the applicant, and the breadth of topics covered in the program.
ABPM is most likely to approved graduate degrees that are specifically in the Clinical Informatics domain or have a strong clinical-informatics focus.
General healthcare-related degrees (e.g., MHA, MBA) that include some amount of informatics content are less likely to be accepted by the Board to fully replace practice time requirements. However, time spent in informatics courses may be applied toward and partially fulfill practice time requirements.
Board-certified Clinical Informatics physicians review all applicants and supporting documentation to determine if a specific graduate degree will count toward practice pathway requirements.
Will a Clinical Informatics graduate degree program that is less than 24 months long count toward Practice Pathway requirements?
While a Clinical Informatics graduate program that consists of at least 32 credit hours may completely fulfill the practice time requirements of the Clinical Informatics Practice Pathway, a Clinical Informatics graduate program that is fewer than 32 credit hours may partially fulfill Practice Pathway requirements.
To request credit for your graduate coursework, please provide your graduate program transcript and curriculum. You will also need to describe your Clinical Informatics practice activities.
Do I need to finish my Clinical Informatics graduate degree program by June 30, 2025, to apply it toward Practice Pathway requirements?
If you complete your graduate program by June 30, 2025, it may fully satisfy Practice Pathway requirements. However, if the program is not finished by that date, the coursework you did complete may partially fulfill Practice Pathway requirements. In the latter case, you will also need to include descriptions of your Clinical Informatics practice activities in your application.
The Clinical Informatics practice pathway closes at the end of the 2025 exam cycle. Beginning in 2026, you will need to complete an ACGME-accredited Clinical Informatics fellowship to be eligible for the certification exam.
Do I need to complete a capstone project during my 32-credit hour Clinical Informatics graduate degree program in order for it to fulfill the practice activity requirements of the Practice Pathway?
Your 32-credit-hour Clinical Informatics graduate program does not need to include a capstone project to fulfill practice pathway requirements. However, if you do complete a capstone project, please include the details of the project in the coursework section of your application.