“Healthcare administration, leadership and management” will soon be recognized as a new subspecialty in radiology, the American Board of Medical Specialties announced on Wednesday.
The designation will cover clinical medicine alongside different principles in health system science. Those include quality improvement, patient safety, economics, public health, communication and informatics—all integrated into a single subspecialty certificate.
ABMS said diplomates from 13 of its 24 member boards (including the American Board of Radiology) will be eligible to apply for the subspecialty certificate. It plans to administer the first exam in 2024.
“We are pleased to recognize physicians and medical specialists with the expertise and comprehensive knowledge necessary to lead healthcare organizations in ensuring delivery of the highest quality care to their patients,” ABMS President and CEO Richard E. Hawkins, MD, said in an April 26 announcement. “The establishment of the HALM subspeciality is in direct response to requests from both the physician and medical specialists community as well as healthcare systems alike.”
Four specialty boards—covering anesthesiology and emergency, family and preventive medicine—co-sponsored the application for the new subspecialty certificate. Diplomates interested in pursuing the designation will be required to complete HALM training at an ACGME-accredited program and successfully pass the new certification exam.
The American Board of Emergency Medicine will serve as the administrator of the new program, developing the exam, along with scoring and analyzing the results afterward. Each sponsoring board including the ABR will be tasked with reviewing and approving its candidates’ applications and notifying them about the results, according to a separate post.
“HALM presents a unique opportunity for physicians with leadership and management training, skills and experience to demonstrate their commitment to excellence in the critical roles of healthcare administration, an arena in which many preventive medicine specialists excel,” Wendy E. Braund, MD, board chair of the American Board of Preventive Medicine said in an announcement.
Further details can be found on the American Board of Emergency Medicine’s website.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.