BSM Certification Eligibility Requirements

Clinicians who successfully meet eligibility requirements and pass an examination will have met all requirements to be granted a certification in behavioral sleep medicine by the Board of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 

Eligibility Requirements for Examination 

BSM certification requires a combination of appropriate educational background, clinical experience, and a passing score on the BSM examination. The following eligibility requirements outline the credentials and training necessary to sit for the BSM examination.

A. Graduate level (masters or doctorate) degree in a health-related field from an accredited institution of higher learning (upload copy of diploma with application).

B. All clinical professionals must be licensed in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and must act only within the scope of their state license and in accordance with the specific state practice requirements. (upload copy of license with application).

C. Completion of ONE of the following BSM training tracks:

1. Standard Track:  Formal SBSM-accredited graduate or post-doctoral BSM training program (upload copy of training program completion certificate with application and signed Standard Track Attestation Form). Candidates must complete the Standard Track Attestation Form included at the end of this Handbook or in the Application and have it signed by the Program/Training Director of the SBSM-accredited behavioral sleep medicine training program attended. The candidate must provide sufficient detail to enable BSM reviewers to thoroughly and fairly review the candidate’s qualifications. The candidate must then submit the Attestation Form(s) by uploading it to the Application.

2. Alternate Track:  Equivalent training totaling 500 hours of didactic training and clinical experience.

a. Didactic Training – Minimum of 120 hours of continuing education (CE) and/or equivalent graduate level coursework (one graduate course equivalent to 8 CE hours). Continuing education credits must include a certificate of completion from the approving accrediting agency.

1) Didactic content must be in the areas of cognitive-behavioral theory, cognitive-behavioral interventions, behavioral medicine, and behavioral sleep medicine including a minimum of:

i. 60 hours in behavioral sleep medicine encompassing normal and abnormal sleep, differential diagnosis of sleep conditions, diagnostic monitoring tools in sleep medicine, psychological factors affecting sleep, and behavioral treatments of sleep disorders.

ii. 30 hours in cognitive-behavioral theory, cognitive-behavioral interventions, behavioral medicine, or applied behavioral analysis.

iii. 15 hours in mental health assessment and diagnosis.

iv. Remaining 15 hours didactic training may be in combinations of the above.

2) Evidence of training must be provided by uploading copies of graduate-level transcripts

b. Clinical Experience – 250 hours of documented clinical experience completed in consultation with a licensed clinician who is board-certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine or Sleep Medicine. Clinical experience obtained as a graduate student or prior to licensure requires documentation of clinical supervision.

Consultation as defined by these BSM eligibility criteria refers to the provision of clinical practice guidance to a licensed clinician by an individual board-certified in BSM or Sleep Medicine. Supervision refers to the direct clinical oversight and responsibility of a supervisor for the clinical activities of an unlicensed student or trainee: Consultation as defined by these BSM eligibility criteria refers to the provision of clinical practice guidance to a licensed clinician by an individual board-certified in BSM or Sleep Medicine. Supervision refers to the direct clinical oversight and responsibility of a supervisor for the clinical activities of an unlicensed student or trainee: 

1) This must involve a minimum of 150 hours of direct BSM patient care.

2) No more than 40 hours per week can be counted towards these requirements. A minimum of one hour of direct individual or group consultation per week is required for candidates working full-time in the field (face-to-face, video-conference, or phone).  If training is part-time, the frequency of consultation should be proportionate to the hours of training per week.

c. Other Training Activity – After meeting the minimum 370 combined hours for didactic training and clinical experience, the remaining 130 training hours may include combinations of additional BSM didactic or clinical experience, scientific research, teaching, and presentations.

Documentation of Alternate Track Training/Clinical Experience

Candidates must complete the Alternate Track Attestation Form(s) included at the end of this Handbook or in the Application and have it signed by each BSM consultant or supervisor documenting the candidate meets required training experience.  The candidate must provide sufficient detail to enable BSM reviewers to thoroughly and fairly review the candidate’s qualifications. The candidate must then submit the Attestation Form(s) by uploading it to the Application. 

In cases in which a consultant or supervisor is not available to sign the Attestation Form, a current BSM consultant or supervisor may sign the form if they are sufficiently satisfied that the candidate has completed the training outlined in the Attestation Form. 

CBSM Holder Eligibility

BBSM Continuing Education Policy

DBSM Continuing Education Requirements

Diplomates in Behavioral Sleep Medicine (DBSM) are required to renew their certification [ every five years. As part of the renewal application, individuals must verify you currently they have completed a minimum of 40 continuing education (CE/CME) hours in behavioral sleep medicine within five years of the date of their renewal application. The same standard applies to CBSM holders making their initial application to obtain a DBSM in order to be exempted from taking the current BSM examination. These hours may include areas such as normal and abnormal sleep, basic sleep science, differential diagnosis of sleep conditions, diagnostic monitoring tools in sleep medicine, psychological factors affecting sleep and behavioral treatments of sleep disorders.

DBSM Continuing Education Categories and Criteria

1. Attending or presenting a workshop, seminar, symposia, colloquia, approved poster abstract presentation (oral presentation), invited speaker sessions, meetings of professional or scientific organizations, webinars, home-study, or videos

a) Must be approved for CE/CME hours by a sponsoring organization.

b) May be US or international conference

c) Participation must be verified by CE/CME certificate from the sponsoring organization

d) Credit granted only once for attending or presenting a recurring workshop with substantially the same content.

e) Continuing education credit hour is awarded for an approved poster abstract presentation (oral presentation) granted only once for presenting at recurring meeting with substantially the same content. Participation must be verified by the organization or abstract published in meeting agenda.

2. Completing a graduate level behavioral sleep medicine course – satisfactory completion offered by an academic institution accredited by a regional accrediting organization

a) Must be completed within five years of DBSM application/renewal date

b) 1 Graduate academic credit equals 8 continuing education credit hours

c) Satisfactory course completion must be verified with copy of transcript

3. Developing and teaching a behavioral sleep medicine academic course within a regionally accredited academic institution

a) Credit granted only once for teaching a recurring course with substantially the same content.

i) Credit will be granted for continued teaching within a regionally accredited academic institution not to exceed three/five years of participation

ii) Verification of teaching appointment with verified hours must include a letter of attestation by the department chair

b) Must be completed within five years of the DBSM application/renewal period

c) 1 graduate academic credit equals 8 continuing education credit hours

d) Verification must include letter of attestation from department chair including course title, graduate credits, and course start/end date.

4. Authoring or editing a peer-reviewed behavioral sleep medicine practice-oriented publication

a. Publication must have been published within five years of the DBSM application/renewal date

b. Copy of citation of article, chapter or book to verify completion of publication

c. First author of a peer-reviewed BSM practice-oriented professional book equals 16 CE hours

d. First author of a peer-reviewed BSM practice-oriented scientific book chapter or journal article equals 8 CE hours

e. Editor of a peer-reviewed BSM practice-oriented BSM professional book or journal equals 16 CE hours