Physicians are engaged in voluntary certification, with more than 780,000 physicians holding medical specialty certification from one of the 24 American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member boards, the AMBS announced yesterday. Even more, 91 percent of all American Board of Family Medicine-certified family physicians who are eligible participated in the maintenance of certification program, according to a study in the Annuals of Family Medicine. Earlier this month, however, a study in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons found that 23 percent of general internists and 40 percent of subspecialists are not renewing their internal medicine board certification. Older physicians, particularly, were resistant to recertification and would rather opt to give up practicing, notes the study. Many physicians who do not elect to certification or maintenance of certification cite challenges with time commitments and costs associated with the certification fees. To ensure physician competency, some hospitals choose to offset some of those costs by financially supporting physicians. Press Release