The American Board of Medical Specialists says being board certified represents a physician’s commitment and expertise in consistently achieving superior clinical outcomes in a respective, patient-focused setting.

“Patients, physicians, healthcare providers, insurers and quality organizations look for this recognition as the best measure of a physician’s knowledge, experience and skills to provide quality health care within a given specialty,” said Union Hospital District CEO Bill Leonard.

The residents of Union County will be excited to learn, then, that three of the hospital district’s newest physicians — in the fields of pediatrics, family medicine and internal medicine — are now board certified by their respective specialties.

Dr. Ranjan Bista with Carolinas Health Associates Upstate Pediatrics, Dr. Erica Savage-Jeter with CHA-Center for Family Healthcare and Dr. Felix Kuuseg, with CHA Internal Medicine each have taken the tests and proven they are knowledgeable and experienced enough to be board certified.

Kuuseg has the distinct honor of being double certified — a feat not many physicians undertake — in internal medicine and pediatrics.

All three of the doctors said obtaining board certification is a lot of work.

“For the past 11 years, I have undergone many examinations and requirements and this marks the successful completion of another,” Savage-Jeter said.

Kuuseg, especially, spent several years in training to become certified in both his fields.

“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “To do a combined program after your residency and get double certified is rare.”

Bista and Savage-Jeter added similar tests to those given in the board certification process are given to residents in their specific fields while they are still studying to become physicians.

They all said being board certified means they know exactly what they’re doing and gives them another level of credibility.

“Board certification means I have the cognitive knowledge and problem-solving ability to care for my patients within the scope of family medicine,” Savage-Jeter said.

“All hospitals, all offices, they want their doctors to be board certified,” Kuuseg said, adding it means a doctor has been tested, tried and they passed.

“If you are board certified, it means you are able to give the standard of care,” Bista said, adding it means a doctor has completed the majority of their training.

“It lets people know you’re really up to your job,” Kuuseg said.

Board certification testing lasts a whole day and places physicians in real-life situations, asking them to identify the situation, how to treat it, what to do in that case, when to refer a patient to a specialist and other multiple choice questions.

A doctor does not have to be board certified, but all three of the Union Hospital District doctors agreed taking the step not only tells their employer how committed they are to their patients and the health of the community but also gives patients confidence in them that they are offering the best quality of care.

“It tells people — your employer, your patients — you’re really up to the task,” Kuuseg said.

“Board certification places these physicians among their peers at the top of their medical fields,” Leonard said. “Our community is privileged to have these physicians caring for them in Union. Drs. Bista, Kuuseg and Savage-Jeter are very talented and we are very fortunate and proud to have physicians of their quality in our Wallace Thomson Hospital family.”