According to Form 990 from the IRS for 2013 for the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), Lois Margaret Nora, MD, JD, MBA, president & CEO of the ABMS, got base compensation of $681,188 plus "bonus and incentive compensation" of $12,500 plus "deferred compensation" of $71,000 plus "nontaxable benefits" of $14,799 for a total of $779,487.
Net assets by contrast, pages 1 and 12 of Form 990 are listed as minus $1,238,805.
Of interest is that Dr. Huntoon in AAPS reported $330,000 in remuneration for Dr. Nora for 2012 (see references below) whereas our copy of Form 990 shows remuneration for 2013 of $779,000 -- if we have actually documented a raise, kudos for Dr. Nora. All ABMS specialists should look over their organizations' Form 990s as a matter of ordinary due diligence.
Of interest is that Dr. Huntoon in AAPS reported $330,000 in remuneration for Dr. Nora for 2012 (see references below) whereas our copy of Form 990 shows remuneration for 2013 of $779,000 -- if we have actually documented a raise, kudos for Dr. Nora. All ABMS specialists should look over their organizations' Form 990s as a matter of ordinary due diligence.
According to Form 990 for the American Board of Pyschiatry and Neurology (ABPN) for 2012, Larry R. Faulkner, MD, president and CEO, was compensated at $560,522 for base compensation plus $260,713 for "retirement and other deferred compensation," $22,356 for "nontaxable benefits" for a total of $ 843,591.
Total revenue for 2012 is listed on page 4 of the form in the amount of $17,122,985 (expenses were $12,389,987). Page 10 of the ABPN document, under "Statement of Functional Expenses," shows "assessments of ABMS" in the amount of $687,884. Page 11 shows end-of-year net assets of $65,083,864.
MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION (MOC)
MOC has become one of the most controversial programs within medical practice with a myriad of organizations willing to take it on and offer their own Continued Medical Education (CME) at prices ranging from bargain-level to exorbitant. The point is that the selling of education has become its own business with ABMS boards devouring their own members as fast as greed allows digestion.
When the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) filed a timid letter in protest to ABPN and asked that MOC Part IV be repealed, that organization got the response of feckless organizations everywhere. Doctor Lois Nora, quoted in NEUROLOGY TODAY, 04/02/15, said with pithy candor, "I don't see us moving on that."
Current AAN president, Tim Pedley, MD, is quoted on page one of AAN News, April 2015, as stating that the MOC Part IV "process is unnecessarily cumbersome" as though a less cumbersome inconvenience would not distress AAN. Meanwhile, in NEUROLOGY TODAY, 04/02/15, Pedley practically apologizes for his support of several hundred disgruntled AAN members and seeks to dissociate AAN from ABPN ("AAN is an independent association with no control over ABPN, the American Board of Medical Specialties, or the MOC rationale and process"). It may eventually turn out that the members no longer need AAN and reconsider paying dues.
Meanwhile, ABPN's $843,591 salaried president and CEO, Larry Faulkner, MD, timorously stated in NEUROLOGY TODAY, " ... wiping out part of the requirements (he means MOC Part IV) is not something we at ABPN believe we have the authority to do. The American Board of Medical Specialties sets the standards, and unless they decide to change them, we don't have a choice but to follow them." We disagree. ABPN is not supposed to be anybody's subject or hand-maiden.
MORE TO THE POINT: MONEY
As we pointed out above, the ABPN form 990 IRS document from 2012 lists $687,884 as "assessments of ABMS" which itself showed negative net assets for 2013 in the amount of $1,238,805. Under these circumstances it is reasonable to inquire further to what extent fiscal issues between the specialty boards and ABMS may be inextricably intertwined.
References
"Money and Medicine," The Weinmann Report (www.politicsofhealthcare.com), 7/21/12
"How Physicians Eat their Young," The Weinmann Report (www.politicsofhealthcare.com), 2/12/14
"AAN Calls for Elimination of MOC Part IV," AAN News
"Do Doctors Expire in 10 Years?" Workcompcentral, Robert Weinmann, MD, 5/15/14 (In the original AAPS article Larry Huntoon, MD, PhD, pointed out that AAN had scheduled an MOC symposium and that Dr. Nora was to be a speaker but did not feel obliged at the time to disclose as a possible conflict of interest that her 2012 salary at ABMS was about $330,000. AAN then is reported to have told AAPS that no such disclaimer was needed since AAN wasn't giving CME credits to participants)
"Do Doctors Expire in 10 Years?" American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS News), May 2014 (V. 70, #5)
MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION (MOC)
MOC has become one of the most controversial programs within medical practice with a myriad of organizations willing to take it on and offer their own Continued Medical Education (CME) at prices ranging from bargain-level to exorbitant. The point is that the selling of education has become its own business with ABMS boards devouring their own members as fast as greed allows digestion.
When the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) filed a timid letter in protest to ABPN and asked that MOC Part IV be repealed, that organization got the response of feckless organizations everywhere. Doctor Lois Nora, quoted in NEUROLOGY TODAY, 04/02/15, said with pithy candor, "I don't see us moving on that."
Current AAN president, Tim Pedley, MD, is quoted on page one of AAN News, April 2015, as stating that the MOC Part IV "process is unnecessarily cumbersome" as though a less cumbersome inconvenience would not distress AAN. Meanwhile, in NEUROLOGY TODAY, 04/02/15, Pedley practically apologizes for his support of several hundred disgruntled AAN members and seeks to dissociate AAN from ABPN ("AAN is an independent association with no control over ABPN, the American Board of Medical Specialties, or the MOC rationale and process"). It may eventually turn out that the members no longer need AAN and reconsider paying dues.
Meanwhile, ABPN's $843,591 salaried president and CEO, Larry Faulkner, MD, timorously stated in NEUROLOGY TODAY, " ... wiping out part of the requirements (he means MOC Part IV) is not something we at ABPN believe we have the authority to do. The American Board of Medical Specialties sets the standards, and unless they decide to change them, we don't have a choice but to follow them." We disagree. ABPN is not supposed to be anybody's subject or hand-maiden.
MORE TO THE POINT: MONEY
As we pointed out above, the ABPN form 990 IRS document from 2012 lists $687,884 as "assessments of ABMS" which itself showed negative net assets for 2013 in the amount of $1,238,805. Under these circumstances it is reasonable to inquire further to what extent fiscal issues between the specialty boards and ABMS may be inextricably intertwined.
References
"Money and Medicine," The Weinmann Report (www.politicsofhealthcare.com), 7/21/12
"How Physicians Eat their Young," The Weinmann Report (www.politicsofhealthcare.com), 2/12/14
"AAN Calls for Elimination of MOC Part IV," AAN News
"Do Doctors Expire in 10 Years?" Workcompcentral, Robert Weinmann, MD, 5/15/14 (In the original AAPS article Larry Huntoon, MD, PhD, pointed out that AAN had scheduled an MOC symposium and that Dr. Nora was to be a speaker but did not feel obliged at the time to disclose as a possible conflict of interest that her 2012 salary at ABMS was about $330,000. AAN then is reported to have told AAPS that no such disclaimer was needed since AAN wasn't giving CME credits to participants)
"Do Doctors Expire in 10 Years?" American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS News), May 2014 (V. 70, #5)
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