By Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC Over the weekend, the Executive Vice President and CEO of the American College of Physicians (ACP), Steven Weinberger, MD, sent an email to update their members about the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. In that email, Dr. Weingarten said that “the ABIM MOC program continues […]
Dr. Wes
CMS issues National Coverage Decision for pacemakers dangerous to patients
By Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC Who needs the Independent Payment Advisory Board to limit indicated care for patients when you have the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)? Today I learned that CMS has issued a National Coverage Decision (NCD) for pacemakers effective 6 July 2015 that would restrict pacemaker implants to patients with […]
The ABIM, its finances, and the great collusion
Maintenance of certification controversy dominates day one of the 2015 Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions
Today in JAMA: ABIM MOC program’s evidence base gets destroyed
Paul Tierstein, MD and Eric Topol, MD critically review the evidence base for the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Maintenance of Certification program in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the results aren’t pretty:
What happens to doctors who fail their Maintenance of Certification examination?
What is it like for physicians to fail their ABMS Maintenance of Certification® (MOC) program examination? How does the largest member board of the ABMS, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), respond to doctors who fail their secure examination?
On the value of losing
ACC issues ‘urgent’ message, but to whom?
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) leadership, troubled by the “complex situation” presented by the changes in re-certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), issued an “urgent message” yesterday on their blog.
The clever practice improvement module roll-over
On February 3, 2015, in response to overwhelming physician pushback regarding the Maintenance of Certification program sanctioned by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the American Board of Internal Medicine suspended the Practice Improvement Modules contained in Part IV of their MOC program for two years.
Is the Medicare “Doc Fix” really so appealing?
It was like magic, a vote was held in the House of Representatives on the Medicare “Doc Fix” and moments later, my inbox was filled with press releases from the American College of Cardiology and the AMA. A few seconds later, a somewhat more tempered press release from AARP arrived, urging more revisions to the bill as it passed to the Senate for approval.
Money for nothing
Imagine paying $4,675 for a piece of paper. It would make the days of $436 military hammers look pretty cheap, wouldn’t it?
Now imagine that piece of paper comes with a promise of having to pay more for your own good and where time spent acquiring that paper meant nothing. Most rational people would have visions of Bernie Madoff or some other Ponzi scheme.
