The 2025 Core Content for the American Board of Emergency Medicine Health Care Administration, Leadership, and...

Health Care Administration, Leadership, and Management (HALM) has emerged as a growing area of expertise as physicians have assumed greater responsibility in healthcare leadership. The need to establish oversight of specialty development, including the creation of a Core Content for HALM to inform structured training and preparation for subspecialty certification examination, has been recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).

This article aims to describe the process used to define the HALM Core Content through the formation of a Task Force of subject matter experts.

In February 2023, ABMS approved HALM as a new subspecialty. The first HALM written board certification examination was slated to be administered in October 2024. In preparation for this assessment, the American Board of Emergency Medicine convened a multi-specialty HALM Task Force to define the HALM Core Content that would serve as the basis for this first and subsequent HALM examinations. Informed by a literature review in conjunction with iterative review and expert consensus, the HALM Core Content was finalized.

The HALM Core Content addresses nine major domains, including 1) Business of Health Care; 2) Care Innovation, Health Equity, and Population Health; 3) Governance; 4) Health Care Policy, Law, and Advocacy; 5) Health Information Technology; 6) Human Resource Management and Workforce Development; 7) Leadership in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement; 8) Organizational Leadership and Communication Skills; and 9) Professionalism and Ethics. The HALM Core Content lists topic areas within each of the domains, which will be reviewed and updated every five to seven years. Reviews may be conducted sooner if there are key advances in HALM content that should be incorporated promptly.

The Core Content herein informs the organizational framework for the development of HALM subspecialty certification. Additionally, residency and fellowship program directors may reference the HALM Core Content to design curriculum focused on healthcare administration and leadership.