The eight-year eligibility window specified in 19.1.1 allows a reasonable period following the completion of 3-year CPME approved podiatric medicine and surgery residency. The eight-year window exceeds that provided generally by our allopathic and osteopathic colleagues.

Additionally, ABPM’s policy allows those who have yet to obtain specialty certification from the other CPME-recognized certifying board an additional year to consider certification with ABPM and ensure their professional and economic viability. Both eligibility periods are comparable to those offered by our allopathic MD/DO colleagues, including the 24 distinct specialty certifying boards under the American Board of Medical Specialties umbrella.

More recently, ABPM’s Board of Directors has approved an additional 2-3 years due to the training and education impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, provided the candidate reaches out to ABPM to request extra time. Extra time is not approved simply by asking the question, but is only available on a case-by-case basis, only to those whose eligibility may have expired between 2020-2022.

Finally, the ABPM Board of Directors has determined that it cannot now elect to certify some practitioners who are presently outside of the eligibility window while others have been timed out of the process and were denied the opportunity to sit.

From ABMS Standards for Certification of Allopathic and Osteopathic Medicine

GS-3. Each ABMS Member Board will determine criteria for eligibility, including the expiration date for the Board Eligible period. The expiration date must be no fewer than three and no more than seven years following the successful completion of accredited training, and in accordance with the corresponding Member Board requirements, plus time (if any) in practice required by the Member Board for admission to the certifying examination.