Hospital Medical Staff, Board Certification for Membership

Medical staff membership should be granted on the basis of the individual physician's training, experience and demonstrated current competence.

The American Academy of Family Physicians is opposed to the use of specialty board certification as the sole or an exclusionary criterion in determining medical staff membership.

In those instances where hospitals and other health care organizations elect to require specialty board certification for medical staff membership, this standard must be applied uniformly. If the standard is initial board certification, then this should be expected of all specialties. If the standard is current recertification status, then this should be universally applied to all specialties. (1990) (April 2024 BOD)