ABPMR - Pain Medicine Re-Entry Examination

Next Pain Re-Entry Exam

March 25 - March 29, 2025

ABPMR Pain Medicine Re-Entry Examination

Getting Back on Track

In 2022, Longitudinal Assessment for Pain Medicine (LA-Pain) replaced the Continuing Certification (CC) Examination as the primary assessment requirement for continuing certification. Although the CC examination remained an option through 2023, beginning in 2024 and beyond, LA-Pain is the sole option for the continuing certification assessment requirement.

The Pain Medicine Re-Entry examination is available to those diplomates who do not meet the LA-Pain performance standard or whose certification is expired. The Re-Entry Examination is based on the blueprint and difficulty level of the initial certification examination taken following the completion of Fellowship training.

The Exam

200 Questions
Two 2-hour sections
One 20-minute break between sections
4 hours active testing + tutorial and break

PAIN RE-ENTRY EXAMINATION AND THE CC CYCLE

Eligibility to Take the Pain Re-Entry Examination

Longitudinal Assessment for Pain Medicine (LA-Pain) is a learning platform designed to assess your knowledge, provide immediate feedback, help you identify knowledge gaps, and link to resources to help you learn and improve over time.

The Pain Medicine Re-Entry Examination is intended to be a way to regain certification should your certification expire because of not meeting the LA-Pain Performance Standard.

You are eligible to apply for the Pain Medicine Re-Entry Examination if your Pain Medicine certification is currently expired; however, you are only permitted to take the Re-Entry Examination within one year of your expiration. For example, if your certification expired in 2024, you are only eligible to take the Re-Entry Examination in 2025.

The examination is offered biannually in late winter, and late summer/early fall. Passing the examination counts for your previous five-year continuing certification requirement. If you pass the Re-Entry Examination, your certification will be reinstated, and you will be valid for another five-year cycle.

If you are unsuccessful on the Re-Entry Examination in the first year following the expiration of your certification, you will be required to take the Pain Medicine Initial Certification Examination.