From an opinion piece published earlier by internist Howard Schulman, MD in the Rhode Island Providence Journal:
“I am writing to give the physicians’ perspective on bill H5247/S301 that gives physicians a choice, by medical staff vote, on “maintenance of certification.” (MOC) The organization that sells this certification says it is voluntary, but in fact, for most physicians, is mandatory. Maybe 100 years ago, when this testing began and there was absolutely no supervision of physicians, this “certification” served a purpose.
But that is not the case today. We have the Department of Health, Department of Medical Licensure, malpractice attorneys, the health-insurance companies, the newspapers, social media and the Internet, and hospital credentialing and specialty departments waiting to pounce on any mistake or misstatement we make, never mind ever more informed and empowered patients and families.
Until recently, physicians tolerated the initial certification as just another traditional “hoop” to jump through, but this recent attempt at “maintenance” of certification went overboard. Being a doctor is much more than filling in the dots on a computer screen. We find the huge number of hours of read-a-paragraph and fill-in-the-dot testing a huge waste of time. Physician burn out is already a problem, and this testing is just one more straw on the camel’s back.
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I urge fellow physicians to contact their legislators and the Rhode Island Medical Society to tell them to vote in favor of bill H5247/S0301. I also urge our legislators to talk with their own physicians to understand the negative impact this required maintenance of certification testing has had.”
Rhode Island physicians can also help by supporting the litigants who filed a class action lawsuit against the American Board of Internal Medicine because of MOC.
-Wes
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