ABEM/BCEM

[Old_Mil]

Just out of curiousity, I'm wondering if there is anyone else out there who is maintaining ABEM/BCEM dual board certification through ABMS and ABPS?

(Yes, I know I'm probably kicking over an anthill here...)

As the ABEM increases the number and cost of "mandatory" MOC activities I can see a future where I may just stop doing them and let my ABEM certification fall by the wayside.

As my signature line shows, I'm in no way opposed to ongoing training and exceeed my minimum CMEs annually by a good margin. In the end, though, everyone is an individual and top down mandated training which does not take into account your own strengths and weaknesses as well as your particular practice environment serves no one except those who profit on the process.

My state medical board just passed a resolution against MOC...

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[Birdstrike]

What you're asking is:

"Does Maintenance of Certification at some point become Maintenance of Extortion?"

I haven't done what you're talking about, but at some point if the MOC requirements get any more onerous, there will need to be pushback. There's a growing discontent in many specialties about this. At some point continuing education can become a money-making racket for a certification board, where you're paying money just because you have to, and have no other choice. I have two board certifications now, so I have to take two board exams and do ABEM MOC, LLSA and the growing list of things they require. I don't mind a test every 10 years. That makes sense. But I don't see any proof the growing excesses of busy-work makes better doctors. At some point, maintenance-of-certification creep needs to stop.

 

[Old_Mil]

Yes, I guess that is what I am.asking. As AAEM/ACEP shows, having options are good. The BCEM certification.requires just what you suggest...CME and a test every eight years. CME is expensive enough as it is if you are going to scientific.assembly and another conference a year. This sounds a great deal more like the specialty boards trying to muscle in on the AMA's cash cow.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Isn't BCEM the APBS guys down in Florida board certifying all kinds of non-residency trained docs? I hardly see that as an alternative. If you don't want to be board certified, fine. But don't go joining/supporting some organization trying to say your residency training isn't worth anything. In my view, the residency training is worth far more than any of the silly certification stuff.

 

[gutonc]

And why not just do the Q10 year exam, keep up your CME (for personal and credentialing purposes) and tell ABEM to shove MOC up their a**?

 

[Birdstrike]

Or just do what Dr. Rand Paul did: Just start your own professional society and declare yourself the President of it.

 

[Old_Mil]

>And why not just do the Q10 year exam, keep up your CME (for personal and credentialing purposes) and tell ABEM
>to shove MOC up their a**?

Because the implication of the email I received this past week from them is that unless you play ball with MOC, they won't recertify you by just taking the Concert Exam.

"Your certification with the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) expires xxxx [quite a ways down the road yet] . To maintain certification beyond that date, you must participate in the ABEM MOC program."

 

[Old_Mil]

Isn't BCEM the APBS guys down in Florida board certifying all kinds of non-residency trained docs? I hardly see that as an alternative.

No, they will not certify non-residency trained docs. You do have to complete residency training, but there is a pathway for non EM trained physicians with experience who pass the written and oral exams to become certified. You know, just like ACEP used to grandfather people before they closed that door. Not really interested in rehashing that debate, but I am always interested in maintaining alternatives to top-down imposed nonsense.

If you don't want to be board certified, fine. But don't go joining/supporting some organization trying to say your residency training isn't worth anything. In my view, the residency training is worth far more than any of the silly certification stuff.

Residency training is worth a great deal, which is one of the reasons I belong to AAEM. But it sounds like the ABEM is the group that is trying to minimize the value of that residency training by refusing to re-certify residency trained physicians who don't play ball with MOC.

In the end, the question is just how much control of your career and training are you willing to accept from a colleague who is no more qualified than you are - and if anything is much further removed from patient care by putting on a suit and going to an office job M-F, 9-5 (9-4 on Fridays and the day before holidays)?

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Don't get me wrong. I'm no MOC fan. But I'm definitely not a fan of ABPS/BCEM. Can you imagine another specialty playing games like this? Makes us look like idiots. Sure, you can be a surgeon....just come on down to Florida and take our little test. Nah, a residency in FP is fine. Any residency will do.

 

[RustedFox]

I got that same e-mail the other day. My first thought was:

"Things that make you go hmmm."

I've got one more for you: Down here in Florida, there's a yearly shakedown called the "NICA Fund". Every year, you pay 250 dollars to the Neurologic Injury Compensation Assoc Fund. Its nothing more than hush-money to those mothers whose children suffer a birth-related neurologic injury.

Look; I get it. Childbirth is a dangerous thing. The OBGYN world needs tort-reform, badly... but shaking down every MD/DO on a yearly basis to give money to a hush-fund is... not only unethical, but... quite frankly... too socialist for my liking, komrade.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

They have the same thing in Virginia. OBs pay more, but all docs pay.

I like the idea of a no-fault system, but not one funded by docs.

 

[Old_Mil]

I got that same e-mail the other day. My first thought was:

"Things that make you go hmmm."

Actually after looking it up there is no hmmm about it. From their website:

"In order to maintain ABEM certification beyond the dates of the certificate, ABEM diplomates must participate in ABEM MOC"

https://www.abem.org/public/general-information/who-is-abem-certified-/who-is-abem-certified-

So play ball with whatever they set forth today and whatever they add tomorrow, or get flushed.

 

[gutonc]

Well that's some b******t right there.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

Just out of curiousity, I'm wondering if there is anyone else out there who is maintaining ABEM/BCEM dual board certification through ABMS and ABPS?

(Yes, I know I'm probably kicking over an anthill here...)

As the ABEM increases the number and cost of "mandatory" MOC activities I can see a future where I may just stop doing them and let my ABEM certification fall by the wayside.

As my signature line shows, I'm in no way opposed to ongoing training and exceeed my minimum CMEs annually by a good margin. In the end, though, everyone is an individual and top down mandated training which does not take into account your own strengths and weaknesses as well as your particular practice environment serves no one except those who profit on the process.

My state medical board just passed a resolution against MOC...

Whats the point of ABPS certification. It's not recognized as a legitimate certification in most places...

 

[Birdstrike]

"Congratulations! By participating successfully in the ABEM Maintenance of Certification (ABEM MOC) program, you have renewed your certification as a diplomate of ABEM. The dates of your renewed certification are January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2024.
ABEM will order your diplomate certificate in January of 2015. ABEM has contracted with Jim Henry, Inc., 435 Thirty-Seventh Avenue, St. Charles, Illinois 60174, 630.584.6500, to prepare and distribute ABEM certificates. Jim Henry, Inc. will be contacting you 4-6 weeks after notification regarding framing options.
Please keep your contact information up-to-date by selecting “Personal Information” from your ABEM Personal Access Page.
Best wishes for continued success,

Michael Carius, M.D.
Secretary-Treasurer"

 

[Old_Mil]

Whats the point of ABPS certification. It's not recognized as a legitimate certification in most places...

In the end, you vote with your feet. If the majority of EM physicians join AAEM instead of ACEP, AAEM becomes the default body that speaks for the.specialty by default. Likewise, if even a significant minority of EM physicians seek the BCEM it is legitimized by our presence. It is our membership that legitimizes the organization, not the other way around. Just look what has happened to the AMA.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

In the end, you vote with your feet. If the majority of EM physicians join AAEM instead of ACEP, AAEM becomes the default body that speaks for the.specialty by default. Likewise, if even a significant minority of EM physicians seek the BCEM it is legitimized by our presence. It is our membership that legitimizes the organization, not the other way around. Just look what has happened to the AMA.

Insurance companies will usually require ABMS certification. ABPS is not considered legitimate in many places. I've not heard anything good about these certification processes from others and most people see it as a way for someone to get a certificate when they couldn't pass the ABMS affiliated certification exams. I don't think that you will find many ER physicians going to BCEM instead of ABEM even with the ridiculous MOC requirements.