FLORIDA DOCTORS FIGHT BACK

From the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, AAPS News, September, 2014, we learn that the Florida Medical Association passed the following resolution, namely, "that the FMA advocates that the lack of specialty board recertification (italics added) should not restrict the ability of the physician to practice medicine in Florida." 

In a feisty letter-to-the-editor, Ellen McKnight, MD, Pensacola, writing over the title, "FMA Passes Anti-MOC Resolution,"  stated that "hospital employed physicians should immediately use this to remove MOC requirements from hospital medical staff bylaws."

In a previous editorial in this blog, "How Physicians Eat Their Young," 2/12/14, we showed how the specialty boards use MOC and  re-credentialing to convert their previously august and professional objectives into money-making opportunities for themselves. We recommended taking a look at each board's IRS Form 990, not only for what is reported, but also for what is not reported, e.g., individual compensation arrangements.

We provided references for interested parties. Among the juice-laden items we revealed was that as of 2011 the American Board of Internal Medicine reported total assets of $57, 586, 843 -- so what, dear reader, for what purpose do you think ABIM needs nearly $60 million? 

We informed our readership that as of 2011 the ABIM board chair was remunerated about $800,000. We revealed that recertification costs for an allergist were $2,700 and that MOC costs for an allergist were $2,850. 

Do not think for a moment that FMA's resolve to reduce the necessity for recertification will go unnoticed by the boards -- the huffing and puffing are still to come. We await and expect similar resolutions from other state medical associations, unions, and professional societies. 

Peer-reviewed journal  references are appended to our 12 Feb 14 editorial entitled "How Physicians Eat Their Young."