ABEM Certification Requirements: 2026 Guide

ABEM certification requirements changed in 2021, and many emergency physicians are still sorting out which rules apply to them. This guide covers the current continuing certification structure from the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), and where CME fits in.

We checked these requirements against the American Board of Emergency Medicine’s website. Rules change, so confirm with ABEM before your renewal.

The short answer

Physicians certified or renewed in 2021 or later are on a five-year continuing certification cycle with an annual fee.
Each five-year cycle requires four MyEMCert modules and one Improvement in Medical Practice (IMP) activity.
You must keep a full, unrestricted medical license and comply with ABEM’s Code of Professionalism the whole time.
Physicians still holding a 10-year certificate keep their current dates and requirements, including LLSA tests, until they renew.
ABEM does not list a CME hour requirement of its own. Your CME hours are mostly a state licensure matter, though MyEMCert modules can earn CME if you register for it.

ABEM certification requirements at a glance

ABEM groups continuing certification into a few parts. Here is how they line up for a physician on the five-year cycle, based on ABEM’s requirements page and its Required Continuing Certification Activity policy.

Requirement	What ABEM asks for	How often
Assessment of knowledge	Pass 4 MyEMCert modules	Every 5 years
Improvement in Medical Practice	Attest to 1 Patient Care Practice Improvement (PI) activity	Every 5 years
Professionalism and professional standing	Hold a qualifying medical license and comply with the Code of Professionalism	Continuously
Annual fee	Pay the annual fee to access continuing certification activities	Every year

ABEM tells physicians to sign in to the MyABEM portal to see their own requirements and due dates. That portal view is the final word for your situation, since it reflects your certificate type and where you are in your cycle.

The five-year cycle and the annual fee

Starting in 2021, ABEM moved new and renewing emergency medicine diplomates to a five-year certification cycle paid through an annual fee. According to ABEM’s cycle FAQs, the five-year period starts after your current certification expiration date, so existing expiration dates did not change.

If you still hold a 10-year certificate, ABEM says your current dates and requirements stay the same until you renew. You move to the five-year cycle at that renewal.

ABEM’s FAQs say the annual fee must be paid before you can access continuing certification activities, and that it covers the cost of modules. If the fee goes unpaid past ABEM’s grace period, the physician is decertified. Check the annual fee page or your portal for the current amount and deadlines.

MyEMCert modules

MyEMCert is ABEM’s current knowledge assessment for emergency medicine continuing certification. We found no replacement program announced on abem.org. Each module is open book, can be taken anywhere, and covers a core emergency medicine topic. Every module also includes a Key Advances section on recent changes in practice that are unrelated to the module topic.

ABEM’s MyEMCert page lists eight topic areas: Abdominopelvic, Abnormal Vital Signs and Shock, Head and Neck, Neurology, Resuscitation, Social and Behavioral Health, Thoracorespiratory, and Trauma and Bleeding. You need four passed modules per five-year cycle.

A few practical details from ABEM’s MyEMCert FAQs are worth knowing before you start:

You get four hours of total time to complete each module, and a module times out after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Registering for a module gives you three attempts to pass that topic.
Results come back right away with your score, the correct answers, and rationales.
ABEM suggests taking modules early in case you need to wait for a new version to become available.

What about LLSA?

The Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment (LLSA) tests belong to the older 10-year structure. ABEM’s policy says 10-year certificate holders must pass four LLSA tests during the first five years of their 10-year period, then pass either the ConCert Examination or four MyEMCert modules in the second five years. Physicians on the five-year cycle complete MyEMCert modules instead.

Improvement in Medical Practice

ABEM requires one Patient Care Practice Improvement (PI) activity in each five-year cycle. ABEM publishes a list of approved activities on topics such as sepsis and antibiotic use, stroke, appropriate imaging, pain management, and patient safety. Some externally developed programs are also approved.

You complete the requirement by attesting in the MyABEM portal and naming an independent verifier who knows your practice performance. ABEM’s policy says 5 percent of reported IMP activities are randomly selected for verification. If you are clinically inactive, which ABEM defines as seeing fewer than 20 patients in five years, the IMP requirement is waived until you return to practice.

A standard CME course does not count as an IMP activity. Some approved PI activities happen to award CME as well, but it is the PI credit, not the CME, that satisfies the requirement.

Professionalism and professional standing

ABEM requires every certified physician to continuously hold a current, active, valid, full, unrestricted, and unqualified license to practice medicine in at least one jurisdiction in the United States, its territories, or Canada. You also need a valid license in each jurisdiction where you practice.

Any change to your medical license has to be reported in the MyABEM portal. You must also comply with ABEM’s Code of Professionalism. Physicians found out of compliance are subject to ABEM’s disciplinary process, which can lead to decertification.

How CME fits into ABEM continuing certification

This is where many physicians get confused. ABEM’s requirements pages and its continuing certification policy do not set a number of CME hours you must earn for ABEM. The CME hours you owe each renewal come from your state medical board, which is why ABEM’s own CME page points physicians to state requirements. Our CME requirements by state guide covers those rules.

ABEM activities can still earn CME. According to ABEM, you can earn up to 9 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for each MyEMCert module you pass (the Resuscitation module offers 6). The credit is provided by either the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) or the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and ABEM lists a separate CME fee per activity. You have to register for the CME activity in MyABEM before you start the module, with no exceptions.

The reverse does not work. Outside CME courses, including self-study programs, do not count toward MyEMCert or IMP. They help you meet state licensure CME, hospital credentialing, and your own learning goals, which in turn supports the licensure piece of ABEM’s professional standing requirement.

Steps to stay on track

Sign in to the MyABEM portal and confirm whether you hold a five-year or 10-year certificate.
Note your cycle end date and the number of MyEMCert modules and IMP activities still due.
Pay the annual fee so your continuing certification activities stay available.
Register for CME in MyABEM before each MyEMCert module if you want the credit.
Pick an approved PI activity early, since many take months of data collection.
Check your state board’s CME rules separately, because ABEM credit and state CME are tracked in different places.

Your state CME hours still need to come from somewhere. If you want flexible credit for licensure, Travel Medical Seminars offers Audio-Digest emergency medicine courses in 10-credit and 20-credit formats, each designated for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Audio-Digest lectures are designated for credit by the Lippincott Continuing Medical Education Institute, which is accredited by the ACCME. These courses support state licensure CME. They do not replace MyEMCert modules or IMP activities.

ABEM certification requirements: MyEMCert, IMP, and CME