• Sebastian T Tong, Zachary J Morgan, Andrew W Bazemore, Aimee R Eden, Ruchi M Fitzgerald, and Lars E Peterson.
• From the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD (STT); American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (ZJM, AWB, ARE, LEP); Departments of Family Medicine, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Rush University, Chicago, IL (RMF); Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (LEP). sebastian.tong@ahrq.hhs.gov.
• J Am Board Fam Med. 2021 Jul 1; 34 (4): 814-819.

BackgroundThe American Board of Medical Specialties recognized addiction medicine (ADM) as a subspecialty in 2016, which was timely given the recent rise in substance use disorder (SUD). The impact of this dual board opportunity on Family Medicine has not been described. Our study enumerates and characterizes physicians dually certified in Family Medicine and ADM.MethodsWe linked American Board of Medical Specialties data from March 2020 on physicians dually boarded in Family Medicine and ADM to responses on demographic and scope of practice questions in the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) National Graduate Survey and Family Medicine Certification Examination Registration Questionnaire.ResultsOf current ABFM Diplomates, 0.53% (492/93,269) are also boarded in ADM. Based on survey responses from a subset of dually certified physicians, those who are dually certified are more likely to practice in federally qualified health centers and to hold a faculty position. Dually certified physicians are more likely to provide HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C management and are as likely as non-dually certified physicians to provide newborn care, obstetric deliveries, inpatient adult medicine care, and intensive care.DiscussionWhile only a small proportion of family physicians carry dual ADM board certification, those that do disproportionately serve vulnerable populations while retaining broad scope of care. Further work is needed to examine whether SUD treatment access could be addressed by implementing models that support dually certified physicians in consultative and educational efforts that would amplify their impact across the primary care workforce.© Copyright 2021 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

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