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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.
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]
Medical specialty colleges are societies that represent specialist physicians. Any physician may join these organizations, though most require board certification in order to become a fellow of the college and use the respective post-nominal letters. Similarly, legal specialty colleges are societies that represent specialist lawyers.
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.
A primary care physician is usually the first medical practitioner contacted by a patient because of factors such as ease of communication, accessible location, familiarity, and increasingly issues of cost and managed care requirements. In many countries residents are registered as patients of a (local) family doctor and must contact that ...
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]
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 ...