ECFMG Certification

A certification from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates required for international medical graduates who wish to enter graduate medical education or obtain licensure in the United States.

ECFMG stands for the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. If you graduated from a medical school outside the United States or Canada, you need ECFMG certification before you can enter a U.S. residency program and before most payers will credential you. ECFMG certification verifies that your international medical education meets standards comparable to U.S. medical schools. To get certified, you need to pass Step 1 and Step 2 CK of the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) and have your medical school credentials verified directly by the ECFMG. During credentialing, payers verify ECFMG certification as part of primary source verification for international medical graduates. They confirm your ECFMG certificate number, the date of certification, and your medical school information. If you are an IMG and do not have ECFMG certification, you will not be able to enroll with most payers. There are some nuances. If you completed your residency in the U.S. and have been practicing for years with a U.S. medical license and board certification, your ECFMG certification is still verified every time you go through credentialing or re-credentialing. It does not expire, but payers still check it. One thing that has changed recently is that ECFMG now requires that the medical school you graduated from is accredited by an agency recognized by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME). This applies to medical school graduates starting from 2024. If your school was not accredited at the time of your graduation, it may not affect you, but if you graduated recently, check your school's accreditation status. Keep your ECFMG certificate and certification number accessible. You will need it for every credentialing application for the rest of your career.