Get Certified in
Pain Medicine
Certification Exam
Dates & Fees | |
| Exam Date | September 27, 2025 |
| Application Window | June 2 – 11:59 p.m. on August 8, 2025 |
| Application Fee* | $470 |
| Exam Registration Fee* | $1,745 |
What is Pain Medicine?
Pain Medicine (PM) is the multidisciplinary subspecialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of the entire range of painful disorders.
How This Subspecialty Works
Person or Entity | Responsibility |
| Physician Candidate |
|
| American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) |
|
| American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) | Develops and administers the PM Certification Exam |
Eligibility Criteria
Emergency physicians seeking to take the certification examination in Pain Medicine must:
- Be certified by ABEM
- Actively participate in the continuing certification process for their ABEM certification
- Successfully complete the approved training pathway as specified in the eligibility criteria
- Complete and submit the application to ABEM
- Fulfill the ABEM Policy on Medical Licensure
- Comply with the ABEM Policy on Board Eligibility for Subspecialty Certification
As a physician, if you are seeking access to the Pain Medicine application, first check your ABEM Portal to see if your eligibility has been pre-established and you already have access to apply.
If you do not currently have application access or you do not have an ABEM account, and believe you are eligible to pursue certification, you can request application access using the form below.
Request an Application
Timing Considerations
Physicians can submit their application before their Pain Medicine training is completed. However, all steps of the application, including verification of the successful completion of training, must be completed before scores will be released.
Physicians can sit for subspecialty exams before obtaining Emergency Medicine certification. However, they are not considered certified in a subspecialty until they become certified in Emergency Medicine.
If a physician chooses to take a subspecialty exam before becoming certified in Emergency Medicine, they will be asked to sign a form acknowledging the following:
- If the results of the Oral Exam are a pass, in which case the physician is certified in Emergency Medicine and will meet the eligibility criteria for certification in the subspecialty, the application for certification in the subspecialty will be approved and scores will be released.
- If the physician does not pass the Oral Exam, they are not certified in Emergency Medicine and will not meet the eligibility criteria for certification in a subspecialty; the subspecialty examination results will be held for 12 months. If the physician does not pass the Oral Exam and become certified within that time, the subspecialty scores are nullified and the examination fees are not refunded. Scores will not be released.
Exam Content
The Pain Medicine Certification Examination content outline, examination blueprint, and sample questions are available on the ABA website.
Certification Process
Apply
To apply, physicians must complete the current-year application form, which is available on their ABEM Portal once their eligibility is established. Complete application submissions include:
- Completed Pain Medicine certification application
- Application and certification exam fee paid through the ABEM Portal
The application fee covers the cost of processing the application only and cannot be refunded.
A final review of an application will be completed when all information is received. Applications that are incomplete will be closed by February of the following year. Physicians with closed applications who want to take the exam must submit new applications and meet all requirements in place at the time the new application is submitted.
The application fee and exam fee are paid at the same time during application submission, and physicians are considered registered at that time.
Scheduling
ABEM forwards a candidate’s examination authorization to the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) on a weekly basis, who will contact candidates with information on how to schedule their exam appointment.
Results & Scoring
Exam results are released by the ABA to ABEM, who then sends candidates the results of their examination via email. Results are also posted on your ABEM Portal.
