No. The case log is intended to confirm you have sufficient breadth and depth in Complex Family Planning (CFP) in your practice to be eligible for subspecialty certification. You should estimate and enter your personal practice volume for the six-month period in procedures and categories. You are not required to have cases for every procedure or category to be eligible to take the Senior Candidate exam.
Not necessarily. The requirement to have unrestricted privileges, if one has hospital privileges, is a measure of professional standing required of all ABOG candidates for certification and diplomates in MOC. Not having medical staff membership and hospital privileges by choice is not a failure to meet this requirement. If you are certified by ABOG and participating in MOC, you probably already meet this requirement. Requests for exceptions to the hospital privileges requirement are considered on a case-by-case basis. Please email exams@abog.org regarding the specific details of your situation and request and it will be reviewed.
No. ABOG and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) have standards regarding subspecialty certification. ABOG is allowed to offer OB GYN subspecialty certification to qualified candidates who are specialists in obstetrics and gynecology. This means that a candidate for CFP certification must achieve certification in the specialty of OB GYN before seeking certification in any of ABOG’s five subspecialties, including CFP.
When considering whether 30% of your practice includes CFP, you should include any topics outlined in the CFP Blueprint, which can be found in the CFP Senior Candidate Bulletin. You should also include time and effort spent in complex family planning education, research, medical administration, and advocacy in meeting the 30% CFP threshold. The 30% threshold was developed to reflect a practice of three half-days or one and one-half days weekly.
You may qualify for eligibility for the examination despite some unforeseen personal or professional mitigating circumstances or situations. Please contact ABOG to discuss your personal practice situation.
No. Candidates may select any consecutive six-month period between January 1, 2019 and the date of application. It is important to submit information that reflects your practice, and you may estimate the case and category volume if necessary.
No. The Specialty Certifying Examination (CE) requires a case list of all patients that can be verified by medical records. The Specialty CE includes an examination of your personal practice as reflected in that case list.
The eligibility for the Senior Candidate CFP examination requires ABOG to verify that candidates have a focus of their practice in the new subspecialty. Part of this eligibility requirement includes the review of a case log in the application, which includes only summary numbers of core procedures and categories of care for the six-month period.
No. The Senior Candidate pathway to certification is allowed by ABMS for a limited time as programs become ACGME-accredited and have graduates completing fellowships that can meet new certification standards. Senior Candidates must have been in practice for more than three years in complex family planning. In addition, those in practice for less than three years who completed a family planning fellowship in an academic year up to and including 2021-2022 (and by September 30, 2022) are eligible for certification as a Senior Candidate.
Candidates who complete training in the 2022-2023 AY or after October 1, 2022 will be eligible for certification via the “standard” ABOG pathway, which includes both a qualifying (computer-based) and certifying (oral) examination. These certification processes were approved by the ABMS, and the format for delivery will be like the other OB GYN subspecialties.
The ABMS approved ABOG to offer the practice pathway for Senior Candidate certification in CFP to qualified candidates by examination for three years. For the Senior Candidate Examination, this means 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The last CFP Senior Candidate Examination will be offered in 2024. After that time, candidates desiring certification in CFP, regardless of whether they have attempted the exam previously, will be required to complete an ACGME-accredited CFP fellowship program.
No. ABOG can only offer CFP subspecialty certification through the Senior Candidate pathway to qualified candidates who are certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology by ABOG. CFP is not a co-sponsored subspecialty with any other ABMS certification boards. ABMS has not approved ABOG to certify subspecialists from other specialties or certification boards.
If you believe you should be eligible for certification, you are encouraged to contact your primary certification board and ask them to reach out to ABOG. Those discussions can only occur at the certification board-to-board level and may require ABMS review and approval.
Email your request to exams@abog.org, and we will make the application available on your ABOG portal.
If you pass the exam, you will be dually-certified for the remainder of the year, and you will be required to start CFP MOC January the following year. If you do not pass the examination, you will need to apply for MOC and successfully meet all annual MOC requirements in order to maintain your specialty certification.