Does anyone else feel that MOCA and to a point boards are a scam?

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I'm a long time lurker and rare poster here but I just had to post about this. I have long felt that the inflated costs of board exams and now MOCA are a scam to make more money off of hard working docs. I just stumbled onto the site www.changeboardrecert.com and it looks like I am not alone. Check out the IRS data on the ABA there. The American board of internal medicine just changed their MOCA requirements to every two years and I would not be surprised if other boards followed suit. There is a petition to sign and hopefully this becomes a bigger movement. I know we as anesthesiologists have a lot of battles to fight but I do feel like this is one that shouldn't get lost.
Just for a refresher our fees are $1600 for written boards (that includes the costs of the vetting process or whatever they do), $2100 for orals plus travel and $2100 for MOCA. For those of you who are pursuing a fellowship the written boards cost another $950. FYI- a duplicate certificate of certification costs $150.Where does all that money go? To the same people that are pushing for more examinations.
I do feel a bit like a conspiracy theorist blogger but I do think this topic deserves some discussion.

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Hey, the people in charge of these licensing bodies need to make their millions somehow.

BTW, anyone know how I can become a millionaire member of the body in question?
 
The only way out of this is to not re-certify. Cut the blood supply to the tumor. It's only going to get worse.
 
The only way out of this is to not re-certify. Cut the blood supply to the tumor. It's only going to get worse.

I bet there must be at least four anesthesiologists in the United States who feel saving $2000 and making a statement is more important than being board certified when looking for a new position. I'm not one of them.
 
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Pull a Rand Paul and start your own board certification system.
 
This is exactly why I'm looking at other fields even though I came into medical school specifically to pursue anesthesia. I don't want to end up becoming a chart monkey "supervising" other people while playing to everyone else's tune when I signed up to be a doctor.
 
OMG - I didn't realize it's $2100 just to enter into MOCA and take the cognitive exam. I thought that was to cover most of the simulation portion. The simulation is expensive but, it costs a lot of money to run those (paying staff, food, all the supplies/equipment). I can't believe they want $2100 for the privilege to be in the MOCA system and take the cognitive exam. Pretty soon I'm not going to have any money left over - my state medical society, my state ASA, the ASA, all the ABA fees, DEA license, state medical license. It adds up to thousands a year.
 
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