Practice must consist of broad-based professional activity with significant Addiction Medicine responsibility. Broad-based Addiction Medicine involves a comprehensive approach to preventing, diagnosing, and managing patients with various substance use disorders and addictions. It emphasizes specialized addiction management as the primary focus on patient care, encompassing medication for addiction treatment, evidence-based interventions, evaluation/management of co-occurring medical and psychiatric conditions, and harm reduction efforts. Collaboration within multidisciplinary teams is essential, and practitioners should demonstrate proficiency in managing complex cases across diverse populations. The Addiction Medicine subspecialty goes beyond just treating patients with addiction disorders, which is an element of all medicine practices. It represents a higher level of experience and expertise, requiring specialized training, continuous learning, and ongoing dedication to the growth of the field, whether in a clinical or academic setting.

Time spent working as the primary decision-maker providing direct patient care in the subspecialty practice of Addiction Medicine counts toward the Practice Pathway. Practice Pathway settings may include prescribing buprenorphine in an office-based opioid treatment program; working in a methadone maintenance clinic; providing medically managed withdrawal treatment from alcohol, sedatives, opioids, or other substances; providing hospital-based addiction consultation services (consultation-liaison service); acting as a medical director of a residential addiction treatment program; and other settings.

In addition, documentation of Addiction Medicine-related teaching, research, and administration activities, as well as clinical care or prevention of, or treatment of, individuals who are at risk for, or have, a substance use disorder may be counted towards practice hour requirements.

Yes. Current primary specialty certification through the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) will satisfy the primary specialty certification requirement.

Review the requirements for Addiction Medicine Certification at https://www.theabpm.org/become-certified/subspecialties/addiction-medicine/.

Yes. Current primary specialty certification through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) or the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) will satisfy the primary specialty certification requirement.

Review the requirements for Addiction Medicine Certification at https://www.theabpm.org/become-certified/subspecialties/addiction-medicine/.

Some ABMS boards consider maintaining subspecialty certification as meeting the primary certification requirements. In those cases, the individual is deemed certified in the primary specialty. Primary specialty certification status is determined by each individual board.

Current primary specialty certification is a core requirement for applicants applying through the Practice Pathway. 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.

A physician who has voluntarily entered into a rehabilitation program for chemical dependency/addiction/substance use disorder or a practice improvement plan with the approval of a state medical board shall not be considered to have a restriction on his/her license to practice medicine for the purposes of applying to ABPM for certification in Addiction Medicine.

Time spent working as the primary decision-maker providing direct patient care in the specialty practice of Addiction Medicine counts toward the Practice Pathway. Practice Pathway settings may include office-based opioid treatment program prescribing buprenorphine; working in a methadone maintenance clinic, providing medically managed withdrawal treatment from alcohol, sedatives, opioids, or other substances; hospital-based addiction consultation services (consultation-liaison service); medical director of a residential addiction treatment program and other settings.

In addition, documentation of Addiction Medicine teaching, research and administration activities, as well as clinical care or prevention of, or treatment of, individuals who are at risk for or have a substance use disorder may be considered as practice hours.

ABPM does not provide credit for hours concurrent with a residency or a non-Addiction Medicine fellowship. Electives will not count towards requirements of the Practice Pathway.

Non-compensated or volunteer work may count towards practice requirements, provided you are functioning as the primary decision-maker and providing direct patient care. These activities must be verified with appropriate documentation and letters of reference.

Time spent just observing or shadowing without primary decision-making responsibility for patient care does not count towards practice requirements.

Addiction Medicine practice outside of direct patient care, including research,  administration, or teaching activities, may count for a combined maximum of 1,440 hours (75% of the total required minimum practice time of 1920 hours). To get credit for these activities, you will need to submit the work product (published paper, list of lectures, etc.) or independent verification of activity.

To be eligible, you must also demonstrate a minimum of 480 hours of direct patient care in Addiction Medicine.

No. Observation or “shadowing” without “hands-on” patient care for which you are the primary provider — even in the subspecialty of Addiction Medicine — will not count towards the practice requirements of the Practice Pathway. Only direct patient care specifically in Addiction Medicine for which you are the primary provider counts towards the 1,920 practice hours required for the Practice Pathway.

Report the number of hours you spent that month in direct patient care, administration, or research up to 40 hours per week. Please note the ABPM defines a full-time position as a position in which you work 40 hours per week; no more than 40 hours per week can be counted towards practice time requirements for any individual full-time position listed in your application.

No, the letter verifying Addiction Medicine practice for the Practice Pathway cannot be written by a practice partner, even one certified by the ABPM in Addiction Medicine. The verification letter must be written by an independent supervising physician, such as a Chief of Staff, Department Chair, or Fellowship Director. If there is no independent supervising physician that meets these criteria, then the applicant must provide the credentials of the individual who will provide the letter of verification for the applicant, which will be reviewed by the ABPM for appropriateness. The ABPM will make the final determination on the suitability of the individual to provide a verification letter.

Up to 25% of the time spent in a General Practice (whether in Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, etc.) can be counted towards the required 1,920 hours spent in the practice of Addiction Medicine. In the example above, only 12 hours per week (25% of 48 hours per week) would count towards the Practice Pathway.

ABPM supports your commitment to lifelong learning. However, CME activities, even if related to the subspecialty of Addiction Medicine, do not count towards the practice time requirements of the Practice Pathway.

The required 1,920 practice hours may only include direct patient care, research, training, and administration specifically related to Addiction Medicine.

First, physicians complete the application online. In the application, physicians provide detailed descriptions of their practice activities, therapies, volumes of patients and they list any prescriptive licenses they hold. Applicants provide the average number of hours engaged in each practice activity per week.

Upon submission of an application, ABPM Staff verify applicants’ medical degree, medical license, and primary specialty certification. They will also confirm that all required practice verifications and letters of reference have been received. They may contact applicants if any component is missing or if they have questions.

After ABPM Staff complete their preliminary review, they submit the applications to physician reviewers, All applications are reviewed by physicians certified by the ABPM in Addiction Medicine.

Physician reviewers will review the descriptions, verifications, and references and will evaluate the practice hours. The physician reviewers may render a decision or request additional information.

Applicants will be notified of decisions or requests for additional information via email. Applicants should monitor the status of their applications through the Physician Portal.

Applications will be reviewed only after they have been submitted and ABPM has received all required documentation. Applicants who submit applications prior to May will likely receive a decision within four weeks of submission.

Applications submitted in June tend to take longer to review due to the volume of applications being received during this time period. Applicants who complete and submit applications in June will likely receive a decision 6 to 8 weeks after submission.

All required supporting materials and documentation must be submitted to ABPM by July 31, 2024. Incomplete applications or applications with missing documentation after the deadline of July 31, 2024, may be considered a voluntary withdrawal and will be closed.

We encourage you to track your application through the Physician Portal and maintain contact with your verifiers and references to ensure the supporting documentation is sent to the ABPM in a timely manner.

ABPM does not provide credit for any time spent in non-Addiction Medicine fellowships. Elective rotations completed during a residency do not count towards the practice hours requirements of the Practice Pathway.

If you completed a fellowship that was not ACGME-accredited when you completed the program, you may apply through the Practice Pathway. Credit for completion of a non-ACGME-accredited Addiction Medicine fellowship program may satisfy the practice time requirements. The fellowship training curriculum as well as a description of the actual training experience must also be submitted for final approval by the Board.

To satisfy Practice Pathway requirements, the non-ACGME-accredited Addiction Medicine fellowship must be at least 12 months in duration and must be deemed acceptable by the ABPM.

Time spent in fellowship training of less than 12 months in duration may be applied towards the practice time requirements of the Practice Pathway. Additional practice time may be required to be eligible for the certification exam.

You can find a list of all ACGME-accredited fellowships at the American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) website.

Approved applicants may register for the ABPM Addiction Medicine initial certification exam by logging into the ABPM’s Physician Portal.

Learn about ABPM’s CCP requirements here.