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Did they tell you this when you interviewed?
Results of medical exam are under investigation
Monday, September 26, 2005
BY ANGELA STEWART
Star-Ledger Staff
The American Board of Surgery is investigating allegations that doctors at Morristown Memorial Hospital were given the questions and answers to the 2005 national board examination prior to the test.
In addition, the board of surgery is withholding exam results from eight graduates of the hospital's training program who took the test Aug. 10.
The probe, which began in mid-August, focuses on the hospital's surgical training department and the facility's director of surgery, Rolando Rolandelli, according to Robert Rhodes, associate executive director of the board.
Morristown officials say they are cooperating with the investigation, which they believe will clear the program and Rolandelli of wrongdoing.
The hospital is a major surgery site in New Jersey, performing some 17,000 operations last year.
"When all the facts come to light, it will be readily apparent that no graduate resident knowingly received improper access to test materials nor was there any intentional distribution of such material," said the statement issued by Joan Lebow, spokeswoman for the Atlantic Health System, of which Morristown is a part.
In a letter obtained by The Star-Ledger, the board of surgery explained the nature of the investigation and informed doctors from the Morristown program that their test results were being withheld.
"It has come to the attention of the American Board of Surgery that, prior to the 2005 Qualifying Examination in Surgery, members of the Morristown Memorial Hospital surgical training program may have had improper access to examination materials (including examination questions and answers)," wrote Frank R. Lewis Jr., board executive director.
Lewis went on to explain that improper access to the test not only would violate board policy, but also federal and state laws.
"The board reserves the right to take action, after a complete investigation, against involved individuals," he wrote.
Doctors who sat for the board exam paid $1,000, which included a $300 application fee and a $700 examination fee. About 1,200 surgical residency graduates nationwide took the test, which is administered on a computer. All, except the Morristown group, received their scores Sept. 13.
Nirman Tulsyan, a 2004 graduate of the Morristown program who sat for the 2005 exam, is still waiting for his results. "They're not handing them out," said Tulsyan, who is now at the Cleveland Clinic as a vascular surgery fellow.
Withholding scores could have serious consequences.
Many hospitals and managed care plans will not hire or contract a surgeon who is not board-certified. The board exam in question also is the qualifying test for the orals, which lead to certification.
Morristown officials maintain that surgery chair Rolandelli "has corresponded directly and personally" with the board and provided a "detailed, clarifying account of events."
"We are proud of our surgical residency program and our graduates. ... We anticipate a prompt resolution to this matter and look forward to our graduates' receipt of their well-deserved certification," said the hospital statement.
The outcome of the investigation may not be known until the full board meets in January, according to Rhodes.
Rolandelli came to Morristown in January 2003 from Temple University in Philadelphia, where he was program director of surgery. That same year, all four of Rolandelli's Morristown graduates failed the written portion of the board exam. In 2004, two passed and two failed.
Vadim Gritsus, now in private practice in Ridgewood and Pompton Plains, failed the test in 2003 but passed last year. He specializes in weight loss and laparoscopic surgery and is affiliated with Valley Hospital and Chilton Memorial.
Asked if he was helped to pass the test in any way by officials, Gritsus said he was not. He expressed "shock" that the five-year program, which he said provided him with "excellent training," is under investigation.
Morristown Hospital is a clinical affiliate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, according to the hospital's Web site. Morristown's surgical residency was under the sponsorship of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in Newark for one academic year, 2002-03. The relationship ended in June 2003. The program now is operated independently by Morristown.
A few surgical residents still rotate through UMDNJ to gain experience in transplant surgery and trauma, according to Stephen Baker, the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School official in charge of graduate medical education.
Residency programs are overseen nationally by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which recently shut down a cardio-thoracic residency training program at UMDNJ because it was found deficient.
The council is scheduled to make its next site visit to Morristown's surgical residency program in February.
Angela Stewart writes about health care. She may be reached at (973) 392-4178 or [email protected] .
Results of medical exam are under investigation
Monday, September 26, 2005
BY ANGELA STEWART
Star-Ledger Staff
The American Board of Surgery is investigating allegations that doctors at Morristown Memorial Hospital were given the questions and answers to the 2005 national board examination prior to the test.
In addition, the board of surgery is withholding exam results from eight graduates of the hospital's training program who took the test Aug. 10.
The probe, which began in mid-August, focuses on the hospital's surgical training department and the facility's director of surgery, Rolando Rolandelli, according to Robert Rhodes, associate executive director of the board.
Morristown officials say they are cooperating with the investigation, which they believe will clear the program and Rolandelli of wrongdoing.
The hospital is a major surgery site in New Jersey, performing some 17,000 operations last year.
"When all the facts come to light, it will be readily apparent that no graduate resident knowingly received improper access to test materials nor was there any intentional distribution of such material," said the statement issued by Joan Lebow, spokeswoman for the Atlantic Health System, of which Morristown is a part.
In a letter obtained by The Star-Ledger, the board of surgery explained the nature of the investigation and informed doctors from the Morristown program that their test results were being withheld.
"It has come to the attention of the American Board of Surgery that, prior to the 2005 Qualifying Examination in Surgery, members of the Morristown Memorial Hospital surgical training program may have had improper access to examination materials (including examination questions and answers)," wrote Frank R. Lewis Jr., board executive director.
Lewis went on to explain that improper access to the test not only would violate board policy, but also federal and state laws.
"The board reserves the right to take action, after a complete investigation, against involved individuals," he wrote.
Doctors who sat for the board exam paid $1,000, which included a $300 application fee and a $700 examination fee. About 1,200 surgical residency graduates nationwide took the test, which is administered on a computer. All, except the Morristown group, received their scores Sept. 13.
Nirman Tulsyan, a 2004 graduate of the Morristown program who sat for the 2005 exam, is still waiting for his results. "They're not handing them out," said Tulsyan, who is now at the Cleveland Clinic as a vascular surgery fellow.
Withholding scores could have serious consequences.
Many hospitals and managed care plans will not hire or contract a surgeon who is not board-certified. The board exam in question also is the qualifying test for the orals, which lead to certification.
Morristown officials maintain that surgery chair Rolandelli "has corresponded directly and personally" with the board and provided a "detailed, clarifying account of events."
"We are proud of our surgical residency program and our graduates. ... We anticipate a prompt resolution to this matter and look forward to our graduates' receipt of their well-deserved certification," said the hospital statement.
The outcome of the investigation may not be known until the full board meets in January, according to Rhodes.
Rolandelli came to Morristown in January 2003 from Temple University in Philadelphia, where he was program director of surgery. That same year, all four of Rolandelli's Morristown graduates failed the written portion of the board exam. In 2004, two passed and two failed.
Vadim Gritsus, now in private practice in Ridgewood and Pompton Plains, failed the test in 2003 but passed last year. He specializes in weight loss and laparoscopic surgery and is affiliated with Valley Hospital and Chilton Memorial.
Asked if he was helped to pass the test in any way by officials, Gritsus said he was not. He expressed "shock" that the five-year program, which he said provided him with "excellent training," is under investigation.
Morristown Hospital is a clinical affiliate of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, according to the hospital's Web site. Morristown's surgical residency was under the sponsorship of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in Newark for one academic year, 2002-03. The relationship ended in June 2003. The program now is operated independently by Morristown.
A few surgical residents still rotate through UMDNJ to gain experience in transplant surgery and trauma, according to Stephen Baker, the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School official in charge of graduate medical education.
Residency programs are overseen nationally by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which recently shut down a cardio-thoracic residency training program at UMDNJ because it was found deficient.
The council is scheduled to make its next site visit to Morristown's surgical residency program in February.
Angela Stewart writes about health care. She may be reached at (973) 392-4178 or [email protected] .
