Requirements for Eligibility for Examination Certification

In order to be eligible for the Certification Examination in Pain Medicine, you must meet the following requirements:

Requirement 1
Licensure

All licenses you hold to practice medicine must be valid, unrestricted, and current at the time of the examination.

Each applicant must hold a license issued by (a) one of the states of the United States of America or (b) its equivalent in the applicant’s country, state, province, parish, county, or other governmental unit within the applicant’s country.

Requirement 2
Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Approved Residency

You must have satisfactorily completed a four-year ACGME-accredited residency training program or its equivalent that included pain management. Applicants must submit a chronological list of all completed ACGME training or equivalent. See Page 2 of the application.

Requirement 3
American Board of Medical
Specialties (ABMS) Board Certification or Equivalent

You must demonstrate compliance with either Alternative A or Alternative B, as follow:

Alternative A: You must be currently certified by a board accredited by the American Board of Medical Specialties.
OR
Alternative B: You must be currently certified by a board in your country of residence that certifies you to be a pain physician.

1. You must submit documentation of identifiable training in pain management in an ACGME-accredited training program or equivalent. This identifiable training must be equivalent in scope, content, and duration to that received in one of the ACGME-accredited training programs of a board accredited by ABMS.
   
   
2. The documentation of your training in pain management must include a letter or form signed by the program director of the ACGME-accredited training program you attended that describes your training. The documentation must describe the scope, content, and duration of training in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropathology, pharmacology, psychopathology, physical modalities, and surgical modalities relevant to the field of pain medicine.
   
   
3. ** Subspecialty Certification requirement applicable for USA candidates . To be eligible to sit the FIPP examination, it is mandatory that USA candidates hold one of the following Pain Boards:

   a) American Board of Anesthesiology/ Pain Management
   OR
   b) American Board of Pain Medicine

   Note: Please contact the WIP-Section of Pain Practice office if you desire further instructions or a form for submission by the program director of the ACGME-accredited program that you attended.

Requirement 4
Clinical Practice Experience

By the date of the examination you apply for, you must have been engaged in the clinical practice of Pain Medicine for at least 12 months after completing a formal residency-training program.

A substantial amount of this practice must have been in the field of Pain Medicine. Time spent in a residency-training program does not satisfy this practice requirement; however, if you successfully complete a post-residency fellowship program in pain management that lasted 12 months or longer, you may count the fellowship as 12 months of practice in the field of Pain Medicine.

To be qualified to take the Examination in Interventional Techniques, your practice must either be devoted full-time to Pain Medicine or at least half of your practice must be devoted to Pain Medicine and the remainder to another specialty. To demonstrate the scope of your Pain Medicine practice, you must document your current practice in Pain Medicine. This documentation must include detailed descriptions of your day-to-day practice, including time and procedures allocated throughout your practice schedule. A summary of your overall practice, documenting specific evaluation, management and procedures in pain medicine, should be included in your description.

You also must provide the following information regarding your practice:

• Whether your license to practice your profession in any jurisdiction has ever been limited, suspended, revoked, denied, or subjected to probationary condition.
• Whether your clinical privileges at any hospital or healthcare institution have ever been limited, suspended, revoked, not renewed, or subject to probationary conditions.
• Whether your medical staff membership status has ever been limited, suspended, revoked, not renewed, or subject to probation.
• Whether you have ever been sanctioned for professional misconduct by any hospital, healthcare institution, or medical organization.
• Whether the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or your national, state, provincial, or territorial controlled substances authorization has ever been denied, revoked, suspended, restricted, voluntarily surrendered or not renewed.
• Whether you have ever voluntarily relinquished clinical privileges, controlled substance registration, license to practice or participating status with any health insurance plan, including government plans, in lieu of formal action.
• Whether you have ever been convicted of a felony relating to the practice of medicine or one that relates to health, safety, or patient welfare.
• Whether you presently have a physical or mental health condition that affects or is reasonably likely to affect your professional practice.
• Whether you have or have you had a substance abuse problem that affects or is reasonably likely to affect your professional practice.
• Whether there have there been any malpractice judgments or settlements filed or settled against you in the last five years.

Requirement 5
Adherence to Ethical and
Professional Standards

Upon application, and any grant of certification, you agree that you adhere to all WIP requirements, agree to continue to adhere to these requirements, and agree that should you fail to do so, WIP and/or its Section of Pain Practice may revoke or otherwise act upon your certification.

As a means of demonstrating your adherence to ethical and professional standards, you must submit a minimum of two (2) letters of recommendation from practicing physicians. The letters will be used to assess applicants’ adherence to professional and ethical standards and to confirm information regarding applicants’ Pain Medicine practice, including the assessment of whether applicants have been satisfactorily practicing Pain Medicine and whether they have been practicing this specialty on a full-time basis.

Note: Only one letter may be from a physician partner. The second letter must be from another physician who can speak to the applicant’s practice in Pain Medicine.

Note: Letters from relatives will not be considered.

Included with this application is a form detailing what must be included in the letter and to whom it should be addressed. Please provide this form to the recommending physicians so that the content of the letters is complete.

Requirement 6
Declaration and Consent

World Institute of Painwas founded in 1994. It is incorporated in the State of California as a nonprofit corporation and operates as an autonomous entity, independent from any other association, society, or academy. This independence permits WIP to maintain integrity concerning its policy-making on matters related to certification.

World Institute of Pain and its Section of Pain Practice administers a psychometrically-developed and practice-dated Interventional Examination in the field of Pain Medicine to qualified candidates. Physicians who have successfully completed the credentialing process and examination will be issued certificates of diploma in the field of Interventional Pain Medicine and designated as Fellows in the Interventional Techniques. A list of physicians certified will be available to medical organizations and other groups in the general public.