{"id":1157,"date":"2020-01-01T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T15:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2019-12-31T09:28:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-31T16:28:43","slug":"board-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1157","title":{"rendered":"Board Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The ABMS is the umbrella board for all the medical specialties<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I think I just took my Family Medicine Board Certification test\nfor the last time. They didn\u2019t kick me out for my lousy scores, its just things\nare changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people (patients) aren\u2019t aware of the hoops and hurdles\nof medical education. Most MD\u2019s have a four-year undergraduate degree\n(Bachelors), then complete four years of medical school (where they receive their\nMD degree). But that\u2019s just a piece of paper you hang on the office wall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To legally practice medicine in any state you need a\nlicense, granted by the Board of Medicine in that state. The Board of Medicine\nin Idaho is given the power by the Idaho legislature (thus, the people) to grant\nor remove licenses by statute (Title 54, Chapter 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each state sets its own requirements for Medical licensure\nand each state enforces this professional monopoly, through the laws enacted by\nthe legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most states require US MD graduates have some practical\ntraining after medical school, called \u201cresidency\u201d to get their state license.  You\u2019ve watched Greys Anatomy. I hated that\nshow. Idaho requires US medical school graduates have 1 year of residency training,\nWashington 2, Nevada 3. But no state requires board certification as a standard\nfor licensure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what the heck is \u201cBoard Certification\u201d? It\u2019s another\nhoop. After you\u2019ve done all those college hoops, National Board exam hurdles,\nresidency requirement hours and hurdles, then, the specialty you choose to join\nhas some more for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I decided to be a family doctor I thought I should be \u201cBoard\nCertified\u201d in family medicine. I paid the fee ($1850) and took the test. It was\na relief to pass, but then when I saw 95% passed I didn\u2019t feel so special. The day\nlong test came up every 7 years for me. I was also required to complete annual\nself-training requirements to maintain the certification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who cares about Board Certification? Not patients; most\nfolks who walk through our office can\u2019t tell an MD from a DO from an NP from a\nPA. Most pay attention to the practitioner\u2019s demeanor. Still, when polled, 70%\nof the public will answer \u201cyes\u201d to the question \u201cIs Board Certification an important\ncriterion for choosing a doctor?\u201d Seems a pretty leading question to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board Certification has been used by some hospitals and health\ncare networks to determine who can be employed or work in their facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insurance companies have used Board Certification status to\nadjust payment schedules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does it matter that 90% of practicing MDs in the US have\nsome sort of board certification?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since so many of my practicing colleagues have jumped\nthrough this hoop, paid the fees, submitted education credits and taken the\ntests, (and passed) you would think they all agree on the value of making it\nthrough the hoop. But for the last ten years there has been grumbling. Many physicians\nobject to the silliness of the day-long multiple-choice test, where a full\nthird of the questions have been shown to have no relevance to current\npractice. But most point to the lack of evidence for value. There has never\nbeen any correlation between performance on certification and clinical quality,\neven when studied by the national boards themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such grumbling might be a sign of change. I hope so. A\nprofession questioning its own methods is healthy reflection. Maybe some\nresolve will come out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From now on, the Family Medicine Boards will offer the old\nfashioned every 7-10-year day-long test or a quarterly open book test. In\naddition, I will need to show regular self-education and self-improvement activities.\nI\u2019ll do my best, but honestly, hoops, at my age, with these knees? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of the national certification, I would hope my\npatients, my colleagues would respectfully let me know when I mess up and offer\nme guidance when I stray. Such cultures, such comrades would do more to promote\nexcellence than thousands of hours of tests. I\u2019ll do my best to be part of that\nchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I just took my Family Medicine Board Certification test for the last time. They didn\u2019t kick me out for my lousy scores, its just things are changing. Most people (patients) aren\u2019t aware of the hoops and hurdles of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions\/1159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}