Viewpoints: When is it Enough?

After completing two different ACGME approved residencies and passing their respective board certification exams, I no longer wish to be beholden to those boards for the rest of my medical career. Why should I be required to pay a maintenance extortion fee every year and take a board re-certification examination with fee every 10 years just to be called, “Board Certified”?

While leadership of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has dictated that certification of diplomats in the subspecialty boards be time-limited and that Maintenance of Certification (MOC) should be part of the requirement toward maintaining board certification, it is my assertion that the various subspecialty boards have overstepped their authority and that board certification should be a once in a lifetime right of passage, not something proven again every 10 years or maintained by an MOC program that does not allow practitioners to focus on their specific area of expertise.

Fighting Unfair PRactices

I will seek an active role in specialty leadership with the sole purpose of abolishing the ludicrous and indefensible positions taken by the medical establishment against practicing physicians. Organized medicine is in the midst of a revolution against the unfair practices of requiring physicians to complete certain costly, useless, and burdensome tasks, when we have already sacrificed years of our lives to attain our current positions as board certified physicians.

A severely misguided belief reigns supreme among the ABMS leadership that board certification and maintenance of certification are somehow linked to quality; They most certainly are not. Determining quality is not within the purview of the ABMS, but individual state and national licensing bodies should determine for themselves what quality means when it comes to the provision of medical care. I received my board certification from the ABMS subspecialty boards, but I received my license to practice from the state.

Let’s Poll Specialists

I am asking for organizations like the American Academy of Dermatology to poll its membership and see if they stand with me in answering the following questions:

1. Do you want for initial board certification to be a lifetime certification? Yes or No.
2.Do you want to have Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements every year? Yes or No.
3.Do you want to have a repeat board examination every 10 years? Yes or No. n

H.L. Greenberg, MD, FAAD is Founder of Las Vegas Dermatology.