Board results are in, good luck everyone

[MacDonaldTriad]

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Members don't see this ad.

Last Sept. board exam results are now posted. Good luck class of 2015.

 

[WingedOx]

See you all in ten years...

 

[Comanaprocil]

See you all in ten years...

I think they are going to phase this out and go full continuous-MOC with open book quizzes. They've already started having an annual fee, as opposed to a lump-sum payment every ten years. I wish it went back to the pre-1990 days of one-and-done board cert, especially now that most hospitals and state licensing boards require CME to maintain your appointment and license anyway. Also, there's no real evidence MOC improves patient care or doctor performance more than regular CME does. To me MOC looks like a pyramid scheme meant to keep the ABMS (the parent organization of ABPN) financially afloat. It's also disheartening to know that we are basically locked in to participating in MOC if we want to maintain board certification status (if you don't do MOC, you are considered "not participating" in MOC and may loose your status as being board certified). This has repercussions on your ability to be employed, since many hospitals require attendings to maintain current ABPN-board certification status. NBPAS, the "other board" is not yet recognized as valid by most hospitals or state licensing boards, making ABMS a monopoly. Once you're board certified, you're under the thumb of the ABPN until you retire, unless you go to an all cash-only private practice.

Board certification has morphed into this thing that, as far as I can tell, no doctor asked for and even the people who say it's for the public good have a weak argument. It started out as something for doctors to be able to tell the specialists from the quacks. Now, if you're willing to pay some company to make sure you meet the MOC requirements, anyone can maintain their certification. The process feels cheap now. I imagined it was an honorable accomplishment, something similar to successfully defending a dissertation to get your PhD. Now it's just one more annoyance to check off every year that we all will eventually figure out how to automate to spend the minimum amount of time on and be as painless as possible.

Irregardless of my rant, congratulations all those who passed the exam.

Also, one source (of many): http://www.massdevice.com/abim-its-finances-and-great-collusion/ - "The ABMS lobbied Congress about the self-proclaimed merits of their branded MOC® program while paying their director, Lois Nora, MD, JD $779,487 to earn government contracts and to assure the ABMS (with the ABIM as a testing entity) remained in the Affordable Care Act as a physician quality registry (see Social Security Act 1848, Section (k)(4)). The monopoly power of the ABMS regarding physician credentials prompted a pending suit alleging possible anti-trust violations. The fact that the ABMS or the ABIM has never studied the socioeconomic, psychological or physical toll upon physicians (and their patients) who fail the trademarked MOC® re-certification examination is telling and speaks to the blatant disregard of those tested."

 

[PistolPete]

I bet a class-action lawsuit will be filed in regards to MOC in the next 5-10 years. Most providers hate it.

 

[Comanaprocil]

I bet a class-action lawsuit will be filed in regards to MOC in the next 5-10 years. Most providers hate it.

not class action, but a start:
http://www.aapsonline.org/AAPSvABMScomplaint.pdf

 

[nexus73]

Forensic boards passed. That'll be $525 an hour.

 

[Shikima]

NBPAS.ORG was started in response to the MOC and ABMS.

If you want real answers, follow the money trail.

If you REALLY want to make a difference, get everyone you know to lodge complaints with the ABPN to change MOC. That's the only way to make it better short of a class-action, antitrust lawsuit.

 

[WingedOx]

I think they are going to phase this out and go full continuous-MOC with open book quizzes. They've already started having an annual fee, as opposed to a lump-sum payment every ten years. I wish it went back to the pre-1990 days of one-and-done board cert, especially now that most hospitals and state licensing boards require CME to maintain your appointment and license anyway. Also, there's no real evidence MOC improves patient care or doctor performance more than regular CME does. To me MOC looks like a pyramid scheme meant to keep the ABMS (the parent organization of ABPN) financially afloat. It's also disheartening to know that we are basically locked in to participating in MOC if we want to maintain board certification status (if you don't do MOC, you are considered "not participating" in MOC and may loose your status as being board certified). This has repercussions on your ability to be employed, since many hospitals require attendings to maintain current ABPN-board certification status. NBPAS, the "other board" is not yet recognized as valid by most hospitals or state licensing boards, making ABMS a monopoly. Once you're board certified, you're under the thumb of the ABPN until you retire, unless you go to an all cash-only private practice.

Board certification has morphed into this thing that, as far as I can tell, no doctor asked for and even the people who say it's for the public good have a weak argument. It started out as something for doctors to be able to tell the specialists from the quacks. Now, if you're willing to pay some company to make sure you meet the MOC requirements, anyone can maintain their certification. The process feels cheap now. I imagined it was an honorable accomplishment, something similar to successfully defending a dissertation to get your PhD. Now it's just one more annoyance to check off every year that we all will eventually figure out how to automate to spend the minimum amount of time on and be as painless as possible.

Irregardless of my rant, congratulations all those who passed the exam.

Also, one source (of many): http://www.massdevice.com/abim-its-finances-and-great-collusion/ - "The ABMS lobbied Congress about the self-proclaimed merits of their branded MOC® program while paying their director, Lois Nora, MD, JD $779,487 to earn government contracts and to assure the ABMS (with the ABIM as a testing entity) remained in the Affordable Care Act as a physician quality registry (see Social Security Act 1848, Section (k)(4)). The monopoly power of the ABMS regarding physician credentials prompted a pending suit alleging possible anti-trust violations. The fact that the ABMS or the ABIM has never studied the socioeconomic, psychological or physical toll upon physicians (and their patients) who fail the trademarked MOC® re-certification examination is telling and speaks to the blatant disregard of those tested."

yeah, I've already said my disgust with the possible changed MOC. If we're boned into having to re-certify, I'd rather have to study a few evenings per night for a couple months in 2025 to take a test again than have to deal with repeated annoying online-based modules. I get enough of those at work that I don't properly keep up with as it is.