Emergency Behavioral Health (EBH)
The Emergency Behavioral Health (EBH) Focused Practice Designation (FPD) is available to interested emergency physicians, pediatricians, and psychiatrists.
Physicians with an EBH FPD will increase access to care for emergency department patients seeking acute, unscheduled, mental health treatment. These patients frequently experience disparities in care based on insurance status, race, and age. Appropriate and timely EBH care can now be more effectively provided to patients who are boarding in the Emergency Department for days, weeks, or, on occasion, months, while awaiting an inpatient psychiatric bed. The recognized designation in EBH takes one step toward addressing this public health emergency.
EBH FPD Portfolio Assessment
A portfolio-based assessment will be used for the EBH FPD. ABEM will be the first Board to use this assessment method for initial FPD recognition.
The EBH FPD Portfolio Assessment is in development and is anticipated to launch in fall 2026.
Eligibility and Pathways
Download EBH Eligibility Criteria
Physicians seeking to take the EBH FPD portfolio assessment must:
- Be certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), or certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) and considered to be in good standing by each Board
- Complete and submit the ABEM application
- Actively participate in the ABEM continuing certification requirements (or those of the sponsoring Board) at the time of application and throughout the certification proces
- Fulfill the Policy on Medical Licensure
Additionally, the physician must fulfill the eligibility criteria for one of three application pathways:
- Training Pathway
- Training-Plus-Practice Pathway
- Practice-Only Pathway
ABEM will keep the EBH Practice-Only and Practice Plus-Training pathways open and not time-limited.
Exam Content
Core Content of Emergency Behavioral Health Medicine is the basis for all EBH examination content. It is published in The Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Portfolio Assessment Process
In Development.
The EBH FPD Portfolio Assessment is in development and is anticipated to launch in fall 2026.
EBH Task Force
The Emergency Behavioral Health Task Force, a multi-disciplinary representation across the House of Medicine, was established to bring forward and develop the EBH FPD and the portfolio-based assessment. Task Force Members:
- Ernest E. Wang, MD, ABEM Director, Task Force Chair
- Michael J. Gerardi, MD, President, American Association for Emergency Psychiatry
- Tony Thrasher, DO, Past-President, American Association for Emergency Psychiatry
- Sejal B. Shah, MD, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
- Michael Wilson, MD, PhD, Department of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry, Medical Director, Emergency Psychiatry
- Leslie S. Zun, MD, MBA, Medical director, Lake County Health Department/Community Health Center in Lake County, Illinois, and Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine with a secondary appointment in the Department of Psychiatry
- Junji Takeshita, MD, Immediate-Past-President, American Association for Emergency Psychiatry
- Vera Feuer, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry, Zucker School of Medicine
- Bijan Ketabchi, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
