It was with that as a background that I wrote my post on these web pages entitled "How the ABMS MOC Program Threatens Major Medical Journal Integrity" on September 5, 2016. I was concerned that the ABMS President and CEO, Lois Margaret Nora, MD, JD and her colleague Thomas Norris, MD had failed to disclose financial conflicts of interest in a letter that they had published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). I felt it was also clear that Dr. Nora had a similar lapse of failing to disclose financial conflicts in her pro-MOC article that she was invited to pen for the NEJM and in another promotional article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in August of 2015.
Specifically, I felt Dr. Nora disclosure as an employee of the American Board of Medical Specialties was insufficient as it relates to collecting third-party revenues from it's separate for-profit Georgia-based corporation, ABMS Solutions, LLC. The revenues received by ABMS from ABMS Solutions, LLC are above and beyond fees paid by physicians who participate in ABMS MOC re-certification. Also, no mention of lobbying activities the organization engages in for the corporation's financial benefit was made in either journal as well.
Because of these concerns, I sent an email to the editors of JAMA and the NEJM, asking them to investigate the failure of Dr. Nora (and in one case Dr. Norris) to disclose the conflicts and to consider retraction or a correction for the failure to disclose these conflicts.
Both journal editors were responsive to my concern, but in different ways.
Journal of the American Medical Association
The Editor in Chief for JAMA, Howard Bauchner, MD responded felt that Dr. Nora's financial disclosure as President and CEO of ABMS was adequate because "professional societies and organizations, medical societies, medical schools, hospitals, and industry stakeholders in healthcare employ lobbyists on their behalf. We suspect our readers are aware of this and we do not expect authors to separately declare that their employers engage in lobbying efforts." No mention of my specific concerns regarding the money received by the for-profit subsidiary, ABMS Solutions, LLC, was made, but he did copy his email to me to the journal's editorial counsel, Mr. Joseph Thornton. When I inquired why the issue ABMS Solutions, LLC was not addressed in a subsequent email, I received no reply.
New England Journal of Medicine
The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine forwarded by communications to Dr. Nora and Dr. Norris of the ABMS. Here is a copy of the short email I received from Mary Beth Hamel, MD, MPH, the Executive Deputy Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine in response:
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"The operations, activities, and finances of ABMS Solutions, LLC and the other subsidiaries of the ABMS are consolidated for accounting purposes with those of the ABMS. Likewise, the operations, activities, and finances of ABMS, ABMS Solutions, LLC, and all other subsidiaries are consolidated for tax purposes and publicly reported on a combined basis on the IRS Form 990 for the ABMS. The references in our disclosure to ABMS refer to the consolidated entity, as publicly reported, and as such our disclosures were full and complete."The problem is, when physicians or the public go to the ABMS website, you will notice that their Form 990 and "consolidated financials" are nowhere to be seen. Instead, it appears the NEJM expects its readers to check financial dealings themselves.
So I did.
Thanks to my familiarity with reviewing IRS Form 990's, I knew to go to Guidestar.org to look up the ABMS's latest-available 2014 ABMS Form 990 (pdf). From that, I found the following publicly reported just as Dr. Nora suggested:
ABMS Solutions, LLC earned ABMS $3,469,401 in 2014 (see page 44). Also note that ABMS claims ABMS Solutions, LLC is domiciled in Illinois (it is not, it is domiciled in Georgia). (We've seen this misreporting of the state of domicile of affiliated corporations on IRS forms dealing with the ABIM Foundation, too.)In summary, it took reviewing three Form 990's (one from ABMS and two from "related" organizations) to uncover the "disclosed" conflicts of Dr. Nora's. As we can now see with the travel of ABMS members, "consolidation" of financials has a funny way of disclosing details.
ABMS International, LLC, a "holding company" for the ABMS, earned $5,034,433 in 2014. (see Page 44. While it not itemized in their form 990 or "consolidated financials," practicing physicians should note that employees of the ABMS attend posh conferences in Qatar (video) and Venice, Italy to promote their credentialing program to other groups outside of the United States. ABMS International LLC is the "Direct Controlling Entity" of ABMS Singapore, LLC that earned $0 in 2014 for ABMS in 2014. Dr. Eric Holmboe, the ABIM's former medical director (before he moved on to the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education) can be seen promoting (video) the ABMS/ABIM MOC program with Singapore physicians here for an undisclosed sum).
Dr. Nora earned a remarkable $763,005 from ABMS in 2014 (and at least 11 other officers of the organization earned over $200,000) - a sum that eclipses the vast majority of practicing physicians in the United States.
These ABMS "related" organizations' revenues represented 47 percent of the ABMS total Program Service Revnue (of $18,128, 145) in 2014 - certainly not a "de minimus" amount. Why are U.S. physician fees supporting overseas marketing of this program to other countries?
But there's more.
ABMS is also the controlling entity of the American Board of Medical Specialties Research and Education Foundation, whose principle officer is also Lois Margaret Nora, MD JD and has it's own separate IRS Form 990. That Form 990 claims the ABMS Research and Education Foundation's mission "shall be to support the scientific, scholarly, and public education purposes of the American Board of Medical Specialties (1) by encouraging and conducting research to improve the capacity to measure, assess, and evaluate the educational scientific, clinical, and professional qualifications and performance of physicians engaged in the practice of medical specialties and (2) by conducting educational programs and disseminating information to the public to assist its recognition, evaluation, and underdstanding of the significance and importance of initial certification, of subcertification and of maintenance of certification of physicians engaged in the practice of medical specialties (3) by fostering national and international cooperation and the exchange of information related to initial certification and maintenance of certification."
Items (2) and (3) appear to represent little more than a marketing mission for ABMS certification and MOC propaganda. Item (3) further supports the the promotion of ABMS Solutions, LLC sale of physician credentialing status as well.
The finances of the ABMS Research and Education Foundation demonstrate it has a deficit of $573,644. In FY 2014, the ABMS issued $2,115,569 grant to this "education and research" Foundation (Page 46 of the ABMS Form 990) to cover their loss.
ABMS is also the controlling entity for Multi-Specialty Portfolio Approval Program whose finances are under a separate Form 990 (website here), the first of which appears to have been created in 2014. In FY 2014, the ABMS issued $217, 548 to this organization as a "gift, grant, or capital contribution" (for "promoting physician participation and competency") (Page 46 of the ABMS Form 990).
What does the Multi-Specialty Portfolio Approval Program do?
It seems it loses money. After all, the organization is still $181, 423 in debt after the ABMS granted it $217,548 that same year).
And what what THAT money transfered for? The "mission" of the Multi-Specialty Portfolio Approval Program is "To promote physician participation and competency in quality improvement efforts by granting maintenance of certification credit for quality improvement efforts in local enviroments that improve quality care." Closer inspection of its website seems to hint at promoting the suspended "Part IV" of the old MOC program that Dr. Baron halted when the controversy and physician frustration with MOC began. In reality, it appears the mission of this 'Portfolio Program' is to issue funds to other "exempt non-charible related organizations" (line 49a of its own Form 990)."
I wonder who decides which "local environments" should receive that money and how it is distributed? Really, this seems like a slick way to pay money to others that support institutions that the ABMS deems worthy of their support.
Still, there they are. I suppose I should apologize to Dr. Nora for the fact that I was unaware of this network of spending using our re-certification fees for the benefit of ABMS and I appreciate her openness for "disclosure" in her publications and engaging with this discussion.
As an aside, it was telling that the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine never mentioned their own financial conflicts with the ABMS MOC program. (I brought this to Dr. Hamel's attention but never received a reply.)
Live and learn, colleagues.
-Wes
Addendum: On 10/17/2016 after sharing this blog post privately with the editors a week before it was published and receiving no response, the same day the post was published I received an email from Lauren Lindenfelser, Manager of Editorial Administration at the New England Journal of Medicine that stated "Thank you for your email. Your comments were received and shareed with the editor. We have no further comment at this time."
22 comments:
Thank you for coming forward and bravely reporting on this financial megalopolis called the ABMS and the unethical behavior they get away with everyday. I consider this an assault against helpless and vulnerable physicians. Somehow, with such total denial and lack of feeling toward physicians on the part of Dr. Nora to admit the wrongdoings of the ABMS and ABMS member boards, I feel hurt and angry inside at the same time. I feel powerless like I am a victim of financial and psychological predation inflicted on me by a powerful immoral entity that I cannot get out of my life.
And just think there are 875,000 physicians being assaulted by the ABMS MOC every day and so few are coming forward and saying anything about it.
Thank you for your hard work. FYI: The Med Assoc of Ga House of Delegates today overwhelmingly (95%) passed a resolution to have as a legislative priority for 2017 to pursue the Oklahoma anti MOC legislation for GA.
That's good news. Every state medical association needs to go MOC free.
Oklahoma is a MOC free state. The physicians are happy and proud of that fact.
The Art of Understanding History and the Ineluctable Rise of Secret Societies
I would not call it an "art" on the part of the ABMS, NEJM, and JAMA to dodge disclosing what is important and generally agreed upon as vital by ethics professors, I would call it a "craft" as in being "crafty and clever." Even if the do not follow their ethics policies at the ABMS, they should follow everyday commons sense. It makes them look like fascists and crooks if they follow a minimalist approach. That negative impression we all have toward them is not really good for business and therefore it makes no sense at all. Maybe they could consider talking openly about their secret police and surveillance program with a special footnote for us all about why they have a violent convicted felon on the payroll in charge of our files in the clandestine offices of investigation. Please give us a full disclosure about Ariel Benjamin Mannes and why we are paying for him to abuse physicians and destroy fundamental human rights. Please inform us about the ABIM as the policing arm of the ABMS and how that fits in with quality assurance. How much do you pay Mannes? What are his conflicts of interest. I am tired of lies and BS from the ABMS.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/article/13032155/keeping-the-piece
Full disclosure, ABMS was founded in 1939 when Stalin was declared Time Magazine Man of the Year. The preceding year the Man of the year for Time was Adolf Hitler.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019712_2019694_2019592,00.html
Reading from their website: What does this mean "an Official ABMS Display Agent?"
And what is ABMS Solutions (for profit branch of ABMS) really? And why are they vague about their operations. Why Atlanta, Georgia for their ABMS Solutions division or branch? Why did they plop themselves down in the heart of the Atlanta Financial District?
"ABMS Solutions Recognized as an Official ABMS Display Agent
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has designated the ABMS Solutions’ suite of services as an Official ABMS Display Agent™, authorized to provide ABMS data for primary source verification (PSV). Backed by this status, our services are a primary source equivalent for physician board certification information, in accordance with the credentialing standards of The Joint Commission, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) and other key accrediting organizations.
View or print the ABMS Official Display Agent Letter.
Contact Us
Our Knowledgeable Staff Can Answer Your Questions
If you are experiencing technical issues or have questions about obtaining ABMS physician certification information through CertiFACTS Online or any of our other products, please contact us directly by phone or e-mail. We also invite you to use the convenient online form below for questions and comments pertaining to your account or Board certified physicians.
Phone Contact(800) 733-2267
Mail Contact Information
ABMS Solutions
Two Buckhead Plaza
3050 Peachtree Road, NW
Suite 570
Atlanta, GA 30305"
Look at their expensive offices in the USAA Financial Building in a key hub of the Atlanta financial scene! Does the ABMS offer any disclosures about the nature of the business, operational guidelines, conflicts of interest policies, ethics policies, and their present and future plans?
USAA owned financial center, one of many properties they own and manage.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8385294,-84.3807315,3a,89.6y,291.19h,102.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVkKHWQ5sN3wKcSAqADBzIA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
USAA Financial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAA
wtf is IRS doing when you have given them so much info??
How does it work for a non-profit like ABMS to also have a for-profit business! I mean isn't that another opportunity to give out kickbacks to Nora and her ABMS mobsters in the Windy City? Look at the ABMS Wheel of Fortune vacation trips to the Middle East and Venice. Who paid for that? Another subsidiary? Or was it a subsidiary of a subsidiary.
ABMS Solutions
Sounds like a dot.com startup that is already profitable for duplicative services. I just paid an administrative fee to the SLB when I applied for a medical license in a neighboring state. Then the ABMS charges the state licensing board. Wow!
They don't even do anything for this. What a business model. Big bucks for zip.
FROM SCAM TO SCAM
Are they a Financial Services Firm (or planning to be) as well a Business to Business and Business Management company. What is their financial relationship/agreement with USAA Financial, a Fortune 500 company who owns the Financial Services Center Building they lease office space from.
USAA is a publicly traded stock on the Nasdaqq with investment properties worth $15 billion and an even greater equities portfolio worth $30 billion and total assets of $140 billion. The Two Buckhead Plaza Building is one of many such lucrative properties USAA owns. Raymond James (financial services firm) leases a chunk of the building as do many other financial services investment companies.
So, it strikes me as odd that the ABMS would spin off its certification verification officers, turn it into a for profit "Solutions" firm, and locate their B to B brokers and B managers in Georgia. It is not a very minor thing to somewhat secretly shift your business operations to another state. Are they planning to use MOC fees for investing in a big way?
It appears that is the case. A couple years ago ABMS hired a specialist in creating growth models and managing those growth models. He was a specialist in growing franchises. The picture begins to become clearer, but there is a total lack of disclosure coming from this Chicago parent company, the ABMS about their financial activities and future plans. Clients who are being shafted by MOC have a right to know about this half-a-billion dollar quality assurance industry and its spin-off. Has ABMS "Solutions" now become a business management and financial service arm. What independence does it now enjoy to invest or to seek capital for investment. Are they planning to issue stock with an IPO.
It would be only fair to inform the 850 thousand clients who pay into this fund - for what purpose again? Just to remind ourselves and not let ourselves be fooled, there is no scientific purpose for half the fees, which generate half the revenues for all the member boards. And even the certifications should be called into question after the recent discovery process in ABIM vs. Salas Rushford that they are not only sloppy with how they create their tests, they are negligent in simple registering of who did what questions.
The specialists' names who wrote the questions are vague and without reference to first names, institutions question writers are associated, unknown committee members, and on and on. It is a nightmare. ABIM vs. Arora exposed their fraud further in that they did not even have new updated tests annually, but instead they recycled old questions from three-years (or much older in fact) test questions. If it is not a scam the ABMS is a total incompetent sham.
The ABIM and all the boards appear to not keep records of their painstaking efforts. It has become clear that they obfuscate and obfuscate and stonewall if there is a court order or request from a physician or reporter for clarity. So they have a great deal they wish not to disclose - not just on their finances, but on their alleged gems that they claim to vet to the fullest extent possible before it ever makes its way to one of their high stakes exams.
Do phycians even realize that almost every standardized test is renewed annually?The ABMS, and we know from the ABIM documentation is not keeping up. That is what standard are all about. It is about keeping up and the ABIM and ABMS is not keeping up. Why? Because they say it costs too much to keep up with tests on an annual basis, so they cheat. That is what the court documents reveal if anyone cares to examine them. So, it would be better to get your certification elsewhere, because the ABMS is substandard. Not a standard at all! That is the absolute truth. Where does the money go then. It goes to pay retirement accounts, golden parachutes, Cayman Island, Irish offshore investment accounts.
From Scam to Scam (MOC, Certification and then came ABMS Financial Solutions)
The next logical question is since the member boards refuse to rein in costs, and even suggest creating self-sustaining foundations that seek donations to supplement their untidy but lucrative enterprises, what is to stop the specialty boards from investing money into a financial services firm called ABMS solutions to enhance the bang for your buck even further on Buckhead Financial Services Center, a haven for big money in Atlanta, Georgia. Birds of a feather flock together at Buckhead Plaza.
I am asking for some disclosure on what ABMS "Solutions" is and what are their plans for growth and development in the future. ABMS, the non-profit, receives $700,000 in hard cash from each of the 24 ABMS member boards annually to be part of the franchise. That alone is almost $17 million dollars right there. With the MOC fees and certification fees it really is a half-billion dollar franchise in revenue terms alone. Given the tax exempt status could be valued greater than any private company when you calculate in the tax boon.
How would wall street value ABMS as a company when they get away with paying zero taxes!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAA
ABMS Website Terms of Use
If you use their website you sign your rights away and open yourself up to legal and criminal prosecution.
Read their terms of use agreement.
Who would be as stupid as to give one's rights away. Best to just stay away. Half of the language is just delusional and paranoid.
Unbelievable. Read it for yourself.
http://www.abms.org/terms-of-use
Meaningful ABMS/ABIM disclosure should include Ariel Benjamin Mannes
As many physicians and attorneys are aware, a double-felon A. Benjamin Mannes, who is in charge of physician personal and professional data, has complete access to the entire file/data systems of ABMS physicians - all 840,000 of them. According to online searches Mannes has enjoyed a fiduciary arrangement with the ATP and several of their past and present affiliates. There are too many to list. I would like to have a full disclosure regarding all outside financial arrangements with ABIM/ABMS' director of investigation, Mr. Mannes.
Mr Mannes has a criminal past and ABIM has not disclosed it; Mr. Mannes has not disclosed his true and accurate CV online. Thousands of physicians have been harmed by Mr. Mannes needlessly. He and his conflicted partners have made a market for themselves terrorizing and abusing physicians. He has assaulted their civil liberties and violated their privacy. Physicians have been kept in the dark even about his employment at the ABIM/ABMS. This is vital information that should have been disclosed.
Mr. Mannes claims to be a subject matter expert, but he has never mastered the matter of having the ABIM disclose his felonious past on their website.
This information should be included on the ABIM and ABMS websites. Mr. Mannes should be terminated from his employment for extreme violations against physicians.
Mr. Mannes has many conflicting relationships in the testing and testing security industry. These should be fully disclosed. Mr. Mannes, who is a key director at the ABIM and its parent corporation should be added to the list of VIP's who work for the ABIM/ABMS. Failure to do so is fraudulent, just as hiding one's past on his CV is fraudulent. Every physician should be made aware Mr. of Mannes, his roles at the ABIM/ABMS, and his complete police record/history and his conflicts of interest.
A convicted violent felon in charge of your personal and professional files and life at the ABIM and ABMS
Some of those financial partners with the ABMS/ABIM/Mannes include Caveon based out of Utah, and Kryterion which has its global headquarters in Arizona. Some questions that need to be answered and placed on the ABIM/ABMS websites are: What money does the ABIM "director of investigations" receive from the ABIM, ABMS umbrella and other individual member boards. How much does Caveon pay Mr. Mannes and what are his current activities and position. The last position Mannes held at Caveon, as stated on his online LinkedIn CV was Managing Director of Testing Security.
How could ABIM's director of investigations live and work in Philadelphia, PA and Midvale, Utah. This is absurd to have put this down on Mannes' CV. It is a direct conflict of interest or a blatant lie. As many physicians know Mannes took down his CV for some time when Wes Fisher wrote his compelling story about the ABIM as Medicine's House of Cards. How can we believe the ABIM/ABMS about anything when they do not disclose key personnel and their egregious conflicts of interest. Why cannot executives and directors at ABIM/ABMS just be normal and tell the truth? How can anyone trust the ABIM when they have hidden their activities from physicians who need to know real facts about finances and what many term shady practices.
How can there be trusted medical science coming from the ABMS when we cannot trust the member boards, their executives or the feckless board of directors.
Further research shows that ABMS executives and directors and Mr. Mannes have relationships not reported with the Association of Test Publishers. We would like a disclosure about the ABMS' and ABIM's financial relationship with the Association of Test Publishers (ATP). Also, have they engaged in any lobbying which benefits their respective companies or conjointly? What is ABIM's director of investigations, Ariel Benjamin Mannes, relationship with the ATP?
Is Mannes paid in any capacity by the Association of Test Publishers or any of their direct contractors or business proxies?
We would like to know the conflicts of interest policies at the ABMS and ABIM which govern such outside financial relationships.
Also, does Mr. Mannes get paid for any of the politically charged and sometimes incendiary opinion pieces he writes for the Hill. How does this fit in with the ABMS family-friendly ethics policies? As the parent company of the ABIM, how could the ABMS allow this in their community of ethical member boards? What do the ABIM and ABMS' ethics, professional charter and conflicts of interest policies state?
Ariel Benjamin Mannes. Do your own research and ask why Dr. Baron keeps Mr. Mannes at the ABIM and Dr. Nora tolerates him jockeying his felonious skills throughout the ABMS umbrella and medical boards. If you put his alias Benjamin Mannes in the court record search his felonies will not show up in the DC court record. Type Ariel Mannes to view his two felonies. One wonders how many employers and radio talk show hosts Mr. Mannes has hidden his past from. I am sick of the ABIM and ABMS not doing anything about this failure to disclose and act on terminating Mannes as the DC Metro Police Department has and the TSA for what he has done to harm physicians and the integrity of the judicial system.
https://www.dccourts.gov/cco/maincase.jsf
Once upon a time the organization ABIM, version 1.0, was run by a board of directors who elected two officers. A chairperson and secretary-treasurer. There were strict term limits.
In 1965 a stump man for big tobacco, Chairman Thomas Brem, ended all that. With the stroke of a pen just a few weeks before the Social Security Act of 1965 was signed into law Brem amended the bylaws to add the independent executive immune from term limits. His destruction of the foundational checks and balances written into the legally binding bylaws opened the door for corruption to enter.
Walk right in, Brem said with his pen and actions, while he stuffed his pockets with tobacco's slush fund money. He was not the only physician caught drooling over Tobaccos' unlimited purse. How damn crooked can you get. And this man gets a chair at a prestigious medical school named after him! (Perhaps there should be an inclusion on Brem's plaque as we do with many historical figures when we discover their corruption.)
Let's investigate what happened next! The creation of the end by destroying time-limited mission. The end of the implicit physician/patient bill of rights.
In 1975 two groomed medical politician with their corrupt pens annihilated physicians' and patients' rights completely by axing the only remaining check and balance. First the executive position was created without term limits. Then with the stroke of John Benson, Jr.'s pen, the ABIM went from being a time-limited mission to a clandestine perpetual-motion money-focused political machine.
Dr. Benson would be the recipient of that joint action by being made president of the ABIM with more money, subtle power and free time than he could ever imagine as an Oregon Health Sciences University gastroenterologist.
These "slick Johnny" secret amendments were all executed without discussion with patients they pledged to "be for" (citing humanitarian service), and physicians they profess to "be of" -- whose lifetime certifications would be the next part of the time-limited mission to be ripped up and ground into the seventies shag of the new luxurious Philadelphia offices.
For those who don't know, the ABIM was set to dissolve after fifty years or less. One of those signatories to the next amendment is considered by the ABIM to be the father of the organization. If so, then he is the one responsible for the evil of ABIM 2.0. Secrecy became the next rule of law. Has anyone ever seen an accurate verbatim minutes form any of the board meeting or executive committee meetings.
Corrupt act follows corrupt act. Obfuscation after obfuscation. This has been true for decades. All of the executive ABIM and ABIM positions are in fact an undisclosed illegal action in violation of the mission and spirit of the founding physicians who actually had some ethics and moral behavior from 1936 to 1961.
We must repeat the truth of what is, so that it sinks in. All this denigration of the ABIM was in violation of the original mission and the 1936 bylaws. These Articles of Incorporation were written to protect that original and only mission. As a fail safe to prevent distoriong, propaganda and financial corruption the ABIM articles stated that the ABIM was scheduled to be administratively dissolved after fifty years or less. This fact should speak to the moral conscience of phsycians today to justify them doing the right thing and opposing the corrupt version of the ABIM we find today.
ABIM was clearly a time-limited mission when that work of putting order and a certain level of quality into specialization. The mission was accomplished over thirty years ago; but instead lifetime certifications and an archive of certificates to celebrate the many physician pioneers who voluntarily certified for life, look what happened.
Maintenance of Certification happened. In various stages of rollout and payout.
Aggressive financial planners, and testing scheme artists in the executive offices of the newly invented positions of CEO, COO and CFO with their hell-bent shenanigans played everyone by quietly changing everything because, "the patient demands it," they said. Of course, nobody ever heard of the ABIM except for the physicians who dig deep into their pockets and set aside outrageous amounts of time to satisfy the ABMS lie. Even after four articles in Newsweek slamming the ABIM not one patient who walks into their doctors office has even heard of the ABIM.
What happened to these unethical medical politicians who created bogus medical study after study to protect their salaries? The only thing they can say to defend the corruption, and even this is a stretch, is that MOC is "common sense" or, "although there is no robust evidence to justify MOC it just seems like the right thing to do," or some other similar nonsense.
And these 'lacking-in-common-sense' self-inuring politicians have secretly been conducting lobbying/advising legislators in support of their own bottom lines and fanatical partisan political agendas that pad the investment accounts of special interest groups and their well-connected crooked crony politicians.
All these treasonous medical politicians became blinded to their ethics and professionalism. Out of sight and out of mind, the Hippocratic oaths of Cassel, Baron, Benson, Kimball and Nora. The ABMS umbrella and other boards have similar deviant histories executed in tandem.
The founding physicians of the ABIM are dead. Hard working physicians today find themselves in an awkward position where they are dominated by a nightmarish corrupt enterprise that inflicts financial abuse without oversight and literally tests phycians to death or early retirement.
I vote no for this crooked enterprise.
What dirty tricks are they up to right now!
The cancer must be throwing mets. Nothing surprising to the readers here. Swap out the names and locations and it might as well be the ABIM.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/10/21/indian-doctor-accused-crimes-becomes-president-world-medical-association.html
Maryland may be proposing anti-MOC legislation. That is great news.
https://ip4pi.wordpress.com/2016/10/20/no-mandatory-moc-a-physician-pushes-for-reform-in-maryland/
A real piece of work
Everyone knows by now that former ABIM CEO Christine Cassel has worked with Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton on healthcare reform for at least twenty-five years. What we have learned from reading court documents reveal the power structure and activities of the ABIM behind the scenes.
When you look at all the cheating and unethical behavior that has gone on at the ABIM in terms of using their privileged position and compensation for furthering their political agendas. And they make a lot of money outside from their ABIM connections.
Bob Wachter, the father of the hospitalist movement, is a case in point where he takes hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock and cash from a publicly traded hospitalist company. A severe conflict of interest when you look at how the hospitalist movement has been his "baby".
Look how he helped cover-up the Medicare fraud at his company IPC keeping the media out of it. Wachter even used the auspices of UCSF to get the public to overlook it by using the good reputations of Wachter and UCSF to buy time so that the company could be sold for a great profit in stock and cash for Wachter and the IPC executives. It is a scandal that should have been all over the mainstream media, but it was not.
Also, consider the timing of the hospitalist certificate offered by the ABIM and the protection of the public from a well-timed flood of "fake certificates" with PO boxes strewn all through the country. This was all instigated purportedly by a clinically insane man working alone who the ABIM Director of Investigations could never catch. There is a great deal more to this dirty-tricks story that everyone is dying to hear who bought into it.
How many hired goons did the ABIM and ABMS hire to fulfill this mission to flood the country with these fake medical certificates that it called for the Connecticut Attorney General to go into an "all alerts status" to be on the lookout for non- ABMS certificates. What total bullshit and I am quite surprised how we all can fall for this kind of clandestine gangland tactics.
Any shocked faces or eyebrows going up? Study what the labor unions have done. It is not much different when you look at the whole ABMS Chicago/Philly/Atlanta franchise.
Yes, Wes, the ABIM is quite a jewel -- a real time reflection of the endemic corruption.
I hope the executives and reprehensible board of directors look at the ABIM and entire ABMS gazing at their own reflections in that multi-faceted dirty "jewel". It is a real piece of work!
Drexit
When anti-MOC legislation is proposed in each state, and it is just a matter of time before all fifty states and US territories ban mandatory MOC, it would be good to consider tacking on anti-racketeering language to send a message to other quality assurance member partners in crime to seriously consider ceasing from engaging in further corrupt and politically motivated activities.
Vote yes on ANTI MOC/ANTI CORRUPTION legislation in all states and territories.
Vote to keep useless bureaucracy BS out of medicine completely.
Excellent release exposing the nefarious roles of Ariel Benjamin Mannes. Indeed, our ABIM lady CEO worked closely with Hillary for 25 years on "health care reform." Crony capitalism and special interests worked at their most vulgar levels. And a $90 million dollar grant for 2016 - 19 was awarded to fund the National Quality Forum, headed by the same past ABIM CEO, all after ABMS lobbied Congress (Labor & Commerce) for a fair Medicare formula within "Strategic Growth Reform" (October 2015). Were the ABIM's RICO practices modelled on the Clinton Foundation and its global pay-to-play schemes collecting millions of dollars from special interests around the world? Let's look for change as we drain the swamp. We have much work ahead to just CLEAN the swamp.
Why Singapore?
https://wsrctt.pearsonvue.com/mohs/
UK based company doing Singapore news quotes Wes
Twitter account gets suspended
http://sglinks.com/pages/95649346-dr-wes-abms-irs-form-990-s-and-the-art-of-dodging
It's global now
ABMS International and the ABMS shield design are registered trademarks in China, the EU, Israel, and Singapore and property of ABMS International, LLC.
Likely ABMS International will align with priorities of United Nations, WHO & World Medical Association (the global determiner of "ethics" who selected a leader that is under investigation for all of his corruption)
If you haven't figured out yet that these groups' priorities are to get rid of white people then you are in for a rude awakening if you don't have "Minority Privilege"
Bonus points to anyone who can explain why whites as 8% of global population are not considered the minorities
How is genocide defined under International Law? un-documents.net/a3r260.htm
So the UN is literally genociding Whites, imposing measures that have suppressed family formation & births of whites for years now.
So they are in our faces about it & not even pretending about replacing us. Replacement is the proposed solution to years of obstructing whites from having families. (Many areas will never allow whites to receive welfare & also have aggressive affirmative action laws that make it difficult to have enough financial stability to marry and have kids, decimating the white population)
https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/migration/migration.htm
South Africa is on the brink of snuffing out every last white, and Zuma has as much as told them their days are very few. Global game plan is that's only the beginning; we will not be far behind. Meanwhile Boers are refused political asylum in the United States even though they are more than eager to work and be productive members building up their communities. Whiteness will not be tolerated though. USA brings in en-mass radical Black Africans that live off welfare and use their time to stir up awareness about how oppressed they are & how evil and racist their white hosts are, demanding more accommodations and apologies and reparations for this terrible evil of bringing them in and providing free food/ housing/ healthcare plus allowance and job training and hiring preference over natives of the United States. They work towards radicalizing Blacks that have been in this country for years and benefited from affirmative action and other racial preference policies.
Do you want to be politically correct, or do you want to have an invasion of hostile warriors that you are forced to provide generous hospitality to at taxpayer expense? All of that generosity is what is refused US Citizens, many of whom are Veterans that risked their lives to fight for this nation, all as it is stolen away from us and accumulates debt that your offspring, those who have them, will not see paid off anytime soon. Think about that. -L
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