Clinical Informatics as an Option for American Board of Family Medicine Diplomates

The American Board of Medical Specialties approved in 2011 the offering of a new subcertificate in Clinical Informatics, with the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) and the American Board of Pathology (ABPath) serving as the sponsoring boards.¹ All American Board of Medical Specialties member board Diplomates in good standing with their primary boards can qualify to sit for this new certificate, including American Board of Family Medicine–certified family physicians! ABPM and ABPath provide 2 pathways to qualify for the certificate: (1) completion of a nonaccredited Informatics fellowship training program (accreditation was not available before the creation of the new certificate) or (2) evidence of substantial informatics practice in the 3 years before applying for the certificate (practice eligibility pathway, which will close in 5 years). Those who qualify through one of these pathways may then sit for the certification examination. The first test was administered in October 2013; 456 candidates successfully passed the examination, thus becoming certified Clinical Informaticists.²

By matching name, city, and state of the ABPM candidates (only certified pathologists could access the examination offered by ABPath), we identified 80 American Board of Family Medicine–certified family physicians who now hold Clinical Informatics certificates. What do these new family physician Informatics Diplomates look like? Table 1 provides a glimpse of these new specialists' characteristics.

Interestingly, approximately 42% indicate employment in clinical practice contexts. We do not have information regarding how many of these Diplomates have undergone formal informatics training (fellowship and/or degree programs) since they applied for the certificate through the ABPM. Respondents indicated spending, on average, 27% of their time in administrative tasks but with marked variability; we do not have a further breakdown of this percentage regarding how much time the respondents actually spend in informatics-related activities.

Clinical informatics represents a new career path for board-certified family physicians. We will watch with interest how this option develops over time.

• Received for publication August 18, 2014.
• Revision received August 18, 2014.
• Accepted for publication August 21, 2014.