When most people think of doctors, there exists a certain stereotype of highly educated professionals with certain ethical standards. Sure, outliers abide in countless medical settings who give the rest of us bad names. And then there are those, who not only manipulate the system for their own gain, but also abuse their fellow physicians for their own profit, the shady leaders of life-long long learning.
No one would argue that doctors need to continue their education throughout their careers to stay abreast of the latest medical information and innovation. For years, we have been doing this by meeting required hours of CME (continuing medical education) to comply with our state medical licensing boards. Most doctors do not have any objection to this because it bears relevancy to our daily practices. In fact we still do this although other requirements have been added on.
A few years ago, the ABMS (American Board of Medical Specialties, which oversees 24 approved medical specialty boards) stepped in. A new program was rolled out where doctors are now required to adhere to the MOC (Maintenance of Certification) program. The vast majority of doctors disagree with this process as it is costly, time consumptive, and does not reflect medicine in the real world. In fact, of doctors polled on SERMO, the largest social media network exclusive to physicians, only 3% of doctors felt the MOC process worked well.
Over the last several months, there have been numerous articles and blog posts decrying doctors’ disagreement with the medical boards and the MOC process. In fact, 23,000+ doctors signed a petition to the ABIM to end the MOC process. The ABIM persists in turning a deaf ear and defending themselves, although there is no evidence that the MOC process is actually an effective educational tool or improves clinical outcomes.
One may wonder why the ABIM fails to acknowledge members’ concerns. But, their finances slowly leaked out to the press. Their profits are in the tens of millions and their executives earn obscene salaries. Additionally, there is the question of that luxury condo that they claim as an investment. Many irregularities appear when looking through the ABIM’s and the ABIM foundation’s 990’s. Interestingly, they filed an extension for their 2014 990 submissions.
A few weeks ago, Newsweek published an opinion column by Kurt Eichenwald regarding the ABIM and the MOC process. Some of these same concerns appeared in this article. Instead of standing up and offering validity of the MOCs, the ABIM attacked the author and threatened to have the piece removed from the internet. Apparently, the ABIM is no fan of free speech. And they went a step lower and accused Mr. Eichenwald of not disclosing the fact that his wife is an internist. The ABIM has a very specific conflict of interest policy. This was not a disclosure that was on their list but rather invented especially for this occasion.
The ABIM and all the medical specialty boards hold physicians hostage. We have no choice but to acquiesce to these requirements if we desire to keep practicing medicine. We are disallowed from treating patients at most hospitals or contracting with insurance companies if we are not board certified. Our careers are monopolized by the ABIM and other specialty boards without over-sight. They possess the freedom to reap as much profit from us as they like without any accountability. The shady leaders of medical education abused us for the past few years. This is about to end because the whole truth is coming. Doctors will prevail and our voices will be heard.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Linda Girgis, MD, FAAFP
