Certification: goals set, goals met.

When the American Board of Medical Management was founded by the American College of Physician Executives on January 1, 1989, it was understood that the process for formal recognition of medical management as a specialty of medicine would be rigorous. Understandably, particularly at a time when the medical profession and the health care delivery system are under increasing scrutiny by all third-party payers, the decision to expand medical specialization is made with great caution. But the process of recognition for medical management is now well under way. In an interview with Frank A. Riddick Jr., MD, FACPE, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ABMM, Physician Executive learned more about the specific goals of ABMM and about the degree to which those goals have been achieved.