Why are we asking the fox to watch the ABIM/ABMS henhouse?
In November 2016, practicing physicians passed a resolution 607 at the AMA House of Delegates meeting requesting an independent audit of the ABIM. As my prior post disclosed, the AMA is heavily vested in the ABMS MOC program as a member organization of the ACGME.
The response from the ABIM's corporate communications department was entirely predictable: see the ABIM website.
This is not an independent audit.
Would the ABIM like to explain why they changed auditors? We want to know for ourselves why there is a $13M shortfall this year. Might their investments in the Caymans have fallen short? Did they move those assets offshore to avoid potential tax consequences? Might they have made a few not-so-tiny errors on their behelf, like covering up the existence of the ABIM Foundation for 10 years and using $76M of our testing fees to create the ABIM Foundation by falsifying tax records?
There are a lot of questions to be answered. Why did the ABIM remove their website from the internet archive in 2014 if they were not trying to cover up their activities? Why wouldn't they release their tax forms to main stream media outlets when asked in 2013-2014, and why was the request for those documents only made available via the PA governor's press secretary?
No, the AMA can't bury this one. Either they will hire an independent auditor approved by practicing physicians in America to review tax records from 1990 through the present, or we will be sure to ask the IRS and DOJ to join the investigation on our behalf.
Practicing physicians in America want the truth. All of it. And we will not rest until the activities performed by the ABIM with our finances withstand independent public scrutiny.
-Wes
28 comments:
How can physicians bring doj on this one ? Wat is the legal procedure
Tricky Dick!
During testimony before the US House Ways and Means Committee in 1935 regarding Title VIII of the Economic Security Act (later Social Security Act), AMA President and future ABIM founding father Walter Bierring was asked by Committee Chairman Robert Doughton and Congressman John Dingell Sr. about concern for the legislation leading to unintended changes in the practice of medicine in this country.
Mr Dingell: Doctor, here is a question I want to ask you, that I asked a previous witness. There seems to be some apprehension about it among medical men, and I looked forward to asking you the question. The apprehension is regarding the regimentation of the medical fraternity. In other words, what I have in mind, and what I was led to believe might follow in the wake of some such legislation as this, or might begin with it, is the deprivation of medical men of this country of their right to charge fees and to enjoy an individual practice. Is there any such apprehension in your mind?
Dr Bierring: No, sir.
Mr Dingell: You naturally, I assume, are opposed to any interference with the traditional ethical practice of the medical profession, as it is known today, are you not?
Dr Bierring: I am, sir; yes sir.
I wonder if Dr Bierring could ever have conceived that, 80+ years after the birth of ABIM, the organization he devoted his life to from its inception until his death in 1961 could ever have been capable of such "regimentation" and "deprivation" of physician rights. Perhaps this was exactly the reason that ABIM's mission was originally intended to be time-limited, not its certificates.
Drs. Baron, Cassel, Kimball, Benson, Farber, Meyers, and Brem, et al:
Every one of you has acted unprofessionally, unethically and ignored strict covenants. In no uncertain terms what you have all done is profiteering by means of public fraud and racketeering. You may all be guilty of violating the law.
You lied to the public and physicians about the nature of our 50-year (or less) mission. We never meant for the word "voluntary" to be turned into its opposite. MOC is an invention of greedy minds--a scam perpetrated on the public. End mandatory MOC immediately and get those who require it to rescind the payer/employment requirements for certification.
We never intended for the ABIM to illicitly include in the bylaws an "independent executive" to seek personal pecuniary rewards and serve special interests in violation of IRS laws. We never intended for the ABIM to be anything but a time-limited mission of no more than a few decades.
Misguided self-serving individuals destroyed our intentions and pact with physicians to write "in perpetuity" into the bylaws when the ABIM was meant to be dissolved no later than 1986. We never intended for the ABIM to be a for-profit corporation, and we are appalled that ABIM has been restructured into a political action committee pushing health legislation and partisan politicians on the public through the abuse of executive power and the blatant manipulation and misuse of physicians and physicians' fees.
We do not condone or support what the ABIM (and ABMS) have become. We condemn in the strongest terms the corruption that has entered the halls of medicine and healthcare industry through the infiltration of and defilement of the ABIM by amoral men and women.
Therefore, we resolve that the ABIM be dissolved immediately and the attorneys should bequeath the money to a real scientific organization after settling debts and legal disputes as we wrote in the original bylaws.
Furthermore, how dare you use our words from 1936 in a recent letter, in response to a call for an independent audit, only to further your illicit activities. You do not honor the intent or our purpose for creating the ABIM and we never gave you, an unrecognized blasphemous regime, permission to misconstrue our words and meanings. Our representatives will seek a cease and desist order if you do not stop blatantly lying to the public and misusing physicians' fees. Dissolve the decorous bureaucracy of known as the "ABIM" and resign yourselves to the sacred care of the sick and needy as you gave an oath to.
ACP
Jonathan C Meakins, MD, Montreal, CA
O H Perry Pepper, MD, Philadelphia, PA
William S. Middleton, MD, Madison, WI
David P. Barr, MD, St Louis, MO
G. Gill Richards, MD, Salt Lake City, UT
AMA
John H Musser, MD, New Orleans, LA
Ernest E Irons, MD, Chicago, IL
Reginald Fitz, MD, Boston, MA
Walter L Bierring, MD, Des Moines, IA
The ABIM Founding members, [incorporated] February 28, 1936
Excellent research and points, which in a moral decent society acting within the boundaries of the law should serve to bury the ABIM's illicit (time-limited)existence and activities. We applaud you Dr. Rico, Dr. Fisher and all the countless others for standing up, exposing this scandal and selflessly taking our moral and lawful fight to the public and founding members!
Thank you all!
GN
Why a new auditor? What happened to Mr. Pekula and RSM (McGladrey)? Anything to do with conflicts of interest between RSM contracts, its executives and Wolters-Kluwer? (Uptodate corporate owner.) Who is their new auditor.
We are so fortunate and grateful for having Dr Wes on our side.
Thank you for all you do!
Speaking of foxes. Try working for Cassel and tell me she didn't enjoy hurting people--especially those she didn't like. Cassel revealed herself to be a misogynist in the worst sense. Do you find it odd that a politically ambitious woman like Cassel, with her false faces, can be the worst kind of misogynist? So do I! And she was a racist proving it with her attitudes and actions toward people of color. Cassel showed hatred toward blacks (and disdain), you could feel it, but especially black women who she thought might challenge her leadership. She would hurt good people in the worst way by using third-party agents to harass and build up a bad profile on you. It was a message also that you should not talk about things going on there with anyone or make complaints. Yet that hypocrite Cassel used black women (and men) as manikins for her political window dressing. Cassel, Langdon and other executives had plans to own the ABIM at any cost for greater financial reward and they wanted to control healthcare policy in America. All that phony talk about equality, professionalism and egalitarian mission was just a mask while Christine and Lynn raked in the money.
Make requests for the audit of ABIM to go back to 1986 (not just 1990) in order to gain insight into the "seamless transfer" of the ABIM's Drexel accounts to 1838 Investment Advisors around 1988. ABIM was hiding money away in risky investment accounts and they have tried to hide or obscure their financial partnership with companies the NY AG/SEC was investigating and indicting for crimes starting in 1986.
ABIM invested its profits--from as early as 1988--with Thacher Brown, principal founder of 1838 Investment Advisors. Brown claimed his company's history went back to 1838. That was a lie. 1838 Investment Advisors history goes back only as far as 1988. The purpose of the lie was to bury Brown's affiliation with criminal investigation and indictments for insider trading and other violations of SEC regulations that occurred while Brown was with Drexel, Burnham, Lambert. Brown obscured his years with the defunct Drexel, Burnham Lambert.
This document give a more accurate account of Thacher's background and Drexel.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/804212/000119312510142822/ddefa14a.htm
Thacher Brown lied about the history of 1838 Investment Advisors.
"Q: Thacher, I take it that 1838 has a history behind its name.
A:We trace our heritage back to 1838 when Francis Drexel established Drexel and Co., Inc. in Philadelphia. From the time his sons first began to offer private portfolio management, through a century and a half of serving investor needs, the firm prospered and built a fine reputation for investment management. Today we continue that tradition in the form of a partnership. with all our investment personnel participating in the firm’s ownership. We have 17 investment professionals who average 15 years with 1838 and an average of 25 years in the investment business."
Thacher Brown founder of "1838" obscured not just his background, but also the history of his principal partners. (This lack of transparency is what ABIM is famous for. Now Dr. Baron uses the word transparency in every paragraph of his public propaganda like ABIM's a publicly-traded stock.)
"Q: [To Thatcher Brown]Who are some of the principals in the firm [1838 Investment Advisors] and what are their backgrounds?
A: When you ask me to single out people in the firm, it’s hard because everyone is important to the end product of our management services. All of our professionals are quality individuals with many skills coming from both their formal education as well as years of practical, real life experiences in the financial markets. Let me give you a little information about the principals who oversee the major units of the firm. My responsibilities as Managing Director encompasses oversight for all of our business activities. Along with an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, I have twenty years of financial and management experience. Jay McElroy earned an MBA from Harvard University and began his financial career 40 years ago with Morgan Stanley. In his 28th year with 1838, Jay heads up the firm’s high net worth individual group. George Gephart, who heads up the large cap equity group, also has an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance & Commerce. His career spans 15 years of investments for institutions and individuals. Ed Powell brings 35 years of investment expertise to the firm. His 20 years of work in the area of small cap equities qualifies him to head that group. Marcia Myers heads our fixed income group. She has 15 years of work in fixed income management and an MBA from the Loyola Graduate School of Business. John Springrose utilizes his 20 years of experience in the financial business to head up our client servicing group. John received his MBA from the University of Chicago."
http://www.managerreview.com/index.php?file=c-interviewdetails&iInterviewId=50&CompanyName=1838 Investment Advisors LP
With all we know of the financial relationship between ABIM and "1838" and the sudden demise of 1838 Investment Advisors in 2005--from staggering losses and client abandonment--we think it is prudent to examine the simultaneous heavy losses that ABIM Foundation sustained during severe market declines/risky high-turnover portfolios and dissolution of the now defunct 1838 Investment Advisors.
ABIM experienced huge profits from the 1990's investments, but those investments took a nosedive around 2000/2001 with staggering losses. Some positions they lost over a million dollars in just one stock position (variable purchase dates). They sold off 90's positions to mask the huge losses. The CFO of ABIM Henry Strozeski left after liquidating the ABIM Foundation portfolio. We believe it is appropriate to have a complete accounting of every dollar in the 1838 Investment Advisors accounts and any other accounts to determine if there were any improprieties or negligence involved in ABIM's investing practices. 990 tax filings are of interest regarding CFO Mr. Strozeski and President/CEO Harry Kimball's "retirement packages."
http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1987/03/16/68785/index.htm
http://articles.philly.com/1988-07-22/business/26237121_1_drexel-burnham-lambert-francis-drexel-investment-advisory-unit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drexel_Burnham_Lambert
http://littlesis.org/org/37751/Drexel_Burnham_Lambert_Inc./board
http://littlesis.org/person/8926/W_Thacher_Brown
http://littlesis.org/person/116980/James_Balog
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/drexel-25-years-after-its-collapse-only-helps-a-rsum/?_r=0
80's investing culture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tw9rsP_XE
GN - I appreciate the kind words, but the thanks for exposing the Quality/Certification Cartel for the vast criminal enterprise that it represents is due to the tireless efforts of Dr Wes Fisher. The ABIM gang won't go down without a fight and they still have plenty of Diplomates' money to fight with (for now), but there's only one ending for this movie and it isn't pretty for Dr Baron and friends.
What does it all have to do with the ABIM? Understanding ABIM (ABMS) history more fully and its relationship with government, healthcare reform, and the private sector profits
In 1987 James Balog was sweating the investigation of his firm Drexel, Burnham, Lambert. After all Balog was Vice Chairman there at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert. Or was he sweating? Did he and his cronies receive a get out of jail card, free pass around go and get "$200 million dollars" just for playing the game?
"Investigators have subpoenaed records of Drexel merger and takeover deals, and they keep on asking for more. If the commission does make a case, it quite likely will go beyond insider trading and could be the most significant in what already is the biggest financial scandal since the 1920s."
What was Balog's relationship with Drexel/1838 Investor Advisors client ABIM at the time? 1986 was when the heat was turned up on Drexel by authorities in the criminal justice system and SEC. ABIM made a decision at this time to increase their revenues (like Drexel, Burnham, Lambert) through new and innovative strategies that would include strong-arm techniques to insure financial success--that would be called MOC and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation.
After 1838 Investment Advisors was launched (complete with stock offering to enrich the founders)in 1988, the ABIM Foundation was established shortly thereafter in 1989 as an investment vehicle to hide ABIM profits and mask future profits from the IRS with ABIM's newly minted "innovative offering" under the name "maintenance of certification". The ABIM's CFO Hank Strozeski was the sole signatory on the registration of this creation of the ABMS' flagship foundation.
As an example of ABIM's practices of public fraud, ABIM (and ABMS) offered/sold MOC as a scientifically valid necessity for physicians. They also falsely claimed it was demanded by the public in order to have physician accountability--
that they were in fact engaged in "lifelong learning." Lifelong learning that would become the sole property and right of the ABMS, which represents a clear restraint of trade. In fact there was no science to MOC at all and the public knew nothing about ABIM/ABMS certifications and therefore never had any notion of or opinion about MOC at all. The ABIM/ABMS lied to physicians on the scientific basis for MOC and they lied about the public demand.
We need to know more about why the ABIM along with the ABMS umbrella and boards lied to Candidates and Diplomates. We need to know why the ABMS lied to the public.
The relationship with 1838 Investment Advisors and Drexel's principals jumping ship (such as Brown and Balog) who formed 1838 Investment Advisors links us historically with the now defunct Drexel, Burnham, Lambert--an investment house known for innovative illegal and gray area investing including, insider trading and strong-arm banking techniques. We would like to see documents relating to this period of the 1980's and earlier, because it is clear the ABIM under Kimball, Strozeski, Langdon, and Cassel (who was the sole signer of the ABIM Foundation "official registration" in 1999) has kept hidden from the IRS and state treasury departments a great deal of profit and self-inurement resulting from their industrious extra-curricular activities.
An investigation is in order that goes back to 1975 and surly 1965 when Thomas Brem was running the ABIM, organizing the ABMS, "reforming" the VA and stumping for "big tobacco", while serving other special interests and politically charged movements at the same time.
Just as James Balog served the investment purposes of many including the ABIM (ABMS) we have to ask ourselves why the ABIM and ABMS disclosed and discloses so little about its political and financially related activities and how they intertwine. Balog served in the Bush and Reagan administrations. He was untouched by the Drexel, Burnham, Lambert scandal because he was protected just as the ABIM has been protected. The lines get blurred between non-profit/non-governmental organization (NGO) and ABIM's involvement in the private and public sectors and the corruption and conflicts of interest in both. Christine Cassel would serve in the Clinton and Obama White House, while being active at the ABIM. More questions than answers emerge.
From "Health Street" to "Wall Street" to "DC's "K Street" (even inside the White House and within the chambers of Capitol Hill) where is the transparency you speak of, Mr. Baron?
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=35330
http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1987/03/16/68785/index.htm
More alarming questions arise about what the ABIM and the ABIM Foundation are and what kind of business they are conducting and what the executives are engaged in
ABIM's 1838 Investment Advisors Chairman, James Balog, was a presidential appointee of the US bipartisan commission on US Healthcare 1990 (Reagan appointee)
The American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation (a holding corporation and investment vehicle) was secretly registered by ABIM's CFO in 1989 and transfers of millions of dollars of ABIM profits began in 1990, which continued until 2008. Was it money laundering? For what purpose? Was it personal or political? Or both?
http://www.allhealth.org/Publications/Uninsured/Pepper_Commission_Final_Report_73.pdf
James Balog full bio.
http://prabook.com/web/person-view.html?profileId=141609
The fox has always been in the henhouse (ABIM and 1838 Investment Advisors is a story in part of insiders helping each other.)
James Balog, with ABIM's investment firm writes in 1993:
"The 1965 passage of the Medicare Act then started the
industry on a path of profound change. None of
these changes, however, registered on the Richter
scale the way the efforts of the Clinton administration
to bring about major health care reform have.
Perhaps the quake has been so severe simply
because the health care industry, and the stocks of
the companies, have been displaying phenomenal
results."
"On Health care Reform
For a variety of economic and sociological reasons,
the United States has arrived at a crossroads in health
care; something is going to be done legislatively. As
that great seer Yogi Berra once said: 'When you come
to a crossroads, take it!'
The notion of reforming health care is not a new
one. The earliest attempts to introduce a universal
health care system in this country date all the way
back to the presidential term of Theodore Roosevelt.
Reform surfaced again during the Wilson administration
and during Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration
in the 1930s. The impetus for the attempt at
universal health care coverage in the 1930s was the
Great Depression. At that time, however, policymakers
believed social security and unemployment
insurance coverage were more important than universal
health coverage in dealing with the trauma of
the Great Depression. The idea of universal health
coverage surfaced again during the Truman administration
of the late 1940s, about the time that universal
health coverage was being introduced in the
United Kingdom. It appeared again during President
Lyndon Johnson's Great Society in the mid-
1960s, but implementation of coverage was limited
to persons over 65 in the Medicare program. It surfaced
yet again during the Nixon administration;
indeed, it was declared by President Richard Nixon
to be one of the cornerstones of what he wanted to
do in his second term-but Watergate interfered. l.
1. For a detailed discussion of health care reform by the author,
see "Confronting Reality: The Great Health Care Debate," Health
Policy Paper IV, 1838 Investment Advisors, L.P., Radnor, Pa.
(August 1993).
James Balog on the Healthcare Industry: An Overview, 1838 Investment Advisors
http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2469/cp.v1993.n5.1
Read the section on "Following the Healthcare Industry" for a better understanding about the importance of the historical importance of Chicago and Philadelphia concerning the "co-incidental" location of the medical societies and boards with 90% of the medical industry juxtaposed within a hundred mile radius of Chicago and Philadelphia, homes to the AMA, ACP, ACGME and ABMS. Balog's revelation refers to a time as of the writing of his article 30 years ago. (from 1993). Now the healthcare industry is scattered all over the country. Have not the results of mergers and acquisitions (few players) already changed the landscape dramatically?
Was the ABIM Foundation designed to be an investment vehicle for generating personal wealth for executives and board members, a conduit bank for healthcare reform, cost containment for CMS/payers ("Choosing Wisely" healthcare rationing), propaganda dissemination, political control of physicians, self-dealing real estate investment venture used for entertainment and lobbying? It appears all are true.
Several people authored this idea and put it into action, just as several people authored the book "Health Care Industry" by James Balog (Balog is formerly with the now defunct 1838 Investment Advisors, Drexel Burnham Lambert, presidential appointee to the "Comprehensive Healthcare Commission", appointee to the Commission on Medicare, 1982.
AMA and 1838 Investment Advisor Chairman. Comprehensive Healthcare Commission (ABIM's 1838 Investment Advisors chairman worked with the president of the AMA, James Davis on a multiyear commission completed in 1990.)
"The Reagan administration appointees had credentials in the field, as well. James Balog, chairman of Lambert Brussels Capital Corp., chaired the public-private advisory committee that investigated the catastrophic illness and long-term care issues for the Department of Health and Human Services in 1986, while Dr. James Davis was president of the American Medical Association."
Congressional Quarterly
https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal89-1138365
Healthcare Industry, by James Balog
https://www.amazon.com/Health-Care-Industry-James-Balog/dp/1879087251
Advisory Council on Medicare 1982, James Balog
https://archive.org/stream/medicarebenefits00unit/medicarebenefits00unit_djvu.txt
W. Thacher Brown, founder of ABIM's investment firm 1988-2004.
We don't often know anything about what is going on behind the personal investment curtain of the "Wall Street elites". They will generally seek out the best investments for themselves and sometimes leave clients in shambles. That happened with 1838 Investment Advisors. (dot.com bubble early 2000's)
Another example. Goldman Sachs shorting the housing market in 2008, while pushing traditional long real estate positions (and esoteric derivatives) on their clients. Goldman wins while the investors lose.
W. Thacher Brown. 1838 Investment Advisors, 1988-2004. Brown "retired" form 1838 Inv. Adv. in 2004. A lot of investors--individuals, mutual funds, non-profits, city and state pension funds lost their money. A lot of it. In the billions. How much did the 1838 principals lose? ABIM was all in and came up on the short side losing many millions of dollars offsetting many of the big gains of the 90's after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Zero in on one of W. Thatcher Brown's personal and quite lucrative investments which he made (during this time) in an industry with close ties to the medical industry. Airgas. They sold industrial and medical gases. Ticker symbol ARG. The medical gasses were a good growth performer. Brown was one of the longest running directors/investors from around the time of the IPO in 1986. As a director (from 1989-2010) he accumulated many shares in Airgas as the company went through many mergers and acquisitions and share splits.
The company was recently bought out by a French company, "Liquide Air", that wanted to buy into the US markets in 2015. The company sold for $143 per share (that's $143 post splits). That is double what its previous bidder had offered in 2010.
https://www.thestreet.com/story/13369331/1/airgas-arg-stock-skyrockets-on-air-liquide-merger.html
As of 2010 when Thacher Brown and the CEO were both up for re-election to the board, Brown held over 125,263 shares in Airgas. The dividend was 0.55 cents per quarter. $2.20 per share annually. That translates to $275,578 per year cash from the dividend alone. In addition to his dividend Brown earned $156,542 compensation (in cash and stock) as a board member. Dividend and compensation $432,120. You can do the math on the value of the shares from SEC filings, but as of 2010 the 125,263 shares would have been worth just shy of $18,000,000 in 2015 @ $143 per share.
Brown lost his board seat in a failed hostile takeover attempt by Air Products in late 2010. He had options to purchase 66,500 more shares that year worth $9,509,500 at the merger price. Page 20 and 29 SEC filings.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/804212/000119312510142705/dprec14a.htm
The CEO of Airgas, Peter McCausland, lost his board seat during the hostile bid but was re-appointed later.
The CEO had shares in the company but many more; his shares and his wife's shares as of 2010 would have totaled over $2,230,000,000 at the 2015 merger price. The CEO/founder of Airgas had an annual compensation of up to $4,000,000 with bonuses. Page 43 and 53.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/804212/000119312510142705/dprec14a.htm
ABIM: A History of Fiscal Irresponsibility and Gambling with Physicians' Fees
Rich Baron's offshore Cayman investments, a desperate gamble to get a better rate of return? (Or greater potential loss.) Every Wall Street banker knows the following saying. It's a risk appetite warning not to be greedy: "Bulls make money, bears do too, but pigs get slaughtered." Interesting to note, after looking at historical ABIM and ABIM Foundation investment practices (in terms of degree of risk/greed), the ABIM Foundation took much greater risk with their portfolio than the ABIM. They got greedy. (See ABIM/ABIMF 990's.) But then ABIM was tucking millions of dollars into their ill-begotten "mad money" machine. Stashing it away secretly every year into their "big piggy bank." 1990's saw huge gains but they got greedy doubling and tripling down on positions thinking their portfolio would go up forever. The market did not go up forever. The ABIM Foundation got burned starting in 2000.
Thacher Brown and James Balog--founders of ABIM/ABIMF's now defunct '1838 Investment Advisors--retired rich. What was ABIM/ABIMF CFO's take for signing the secretive registration of the Foundation in 1989. What was Cassel promised in 1999 when it was registered again, but under an abridged spelling of the same name. American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation became "ABIM Foundation." That is the same kind of obscuration that dark money organizations engage in.
MOC important--but for whom? by Paul M. Kempen
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/jchimp.v3i1.20326
Breaking NEWS: ABIM hires another high-paid city government bureaucrat as chief of staff to manage operations for Dr. Baron
Finally we get an announcement for ABIM's new "chief of staff" Judi Cassel fresh from the former democrat mayor's offices (Mayor Michael Nutter--a Hillary Clinton cabinet hopeful). Cassel, a politically charged bureaucrat with no familial relationship we hope with ABIM's former politically charged CEO, claims "no conflicts of interest with other medical companies to report."
The new Cassel will oversee the Human Resource Dept., Ethics compliance of 350 people, and as a non-physician will help develop and implement the new two-year MOC assessment program to maintain certification (employment).
The last "chief of staff", who was also in charge of "governmental affairs" was Suzanne Biemiller a democrat party fundraiser/operative who was previously chief of staff for the same Philly democrat Mayor Michael Nutter. Biemiller, as everyone in town knows was hired just in time for the DNC convention preparations in Philly. One important item, ABIM failed to mention in their coi disclosures that Biemiller's husband was a VP with GlaxoSmithKline the British Pharmaceutical giant with major operations in Philadelphia's downtown and the Naval Shipyard project development, which Biemiller as a key Philly government bureaucrat helped oversee.
But there is a question begging an answer in all this "restructuring" and "transformation" within the not-so-sunny halls of ABIM's executive offices: why was there no press report of the departures of Suzanne Biemiller (former Chief of Staff) or Donna Campbell (Director of Human Resources)? This lack of follow through on daily tasks and important reporting creates great confusion for Candidates and Diplomates and the public.
Does ABIM now have two chiefs of staff and two directors of human resources? Or is their newly hired communications officer too buried in the work of "transparency" to write and publish them? The last communications officer Ms Slass failed to report the departure of the last COO, Nick Hines and the legacy COO before Hines--the infamous Ms. Lynn O. Langdon. So this all confuses the headcount executive compensation scoreboard at the ABIM, and puts more question marks on the recent re-statement of ABIM's IRS 990 most recent reporting schedules.
ABIM's new chief of staff, Philly city government co-worker and friend of the last chief, Suzanne Biemiller--a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter. The ABIM must be keeping a tight lid on the potential conflicts of interest from a friend (with unreported medical company conflicts) recommending a friend.
http://www.abim.org/news/judi-cassel-named-chief-of-staff-at-abim.aspx
"Judi Cassel, MPP, [newest]Chief of Staff
ABIM recognizes the potential value of many types of relationships between health care experts and the healthcare-related industry. To help ensure the independence of all ABIM policies, programs and products, ABIM requires that those who serve on ABIM boards and committees provide detailed disclosures about their relationships with healthcare-related companies, including research, educational activities, intellectual property and service on healthcare-related company boards. Leadership roles with and grant funding or other compensation from other non-profit healthcare-related organizations are also disclosed. This information is shared among members of each board or committee, enabling open discussion about the nature of the work involved and any possible influence on the work of ABIM.
As of January 2017, Ms. Cassel reported no ongoing financial relationships with other healthcare-related companies.
ABIM collects—and members share—information in much more detail than is reported here. We welcome questions about our Conflict of Interest (COI) policies and processes. Please contact us at ABIM Governance Services if you have any questions."
ABIM is a highly political NGO; a very profitable one for the democrat party and the ABIM executives who are there to serve their party's social propaganda and healthcare agenda.
ABIM's executives are groomed and hired to support the "one party rule" in the same way the Philadelphia government is prepared and greased for the "one party rule".
These are only the superficial facts; what we may not realize is that there are no true democrats there. It's all about the money for them as it is with their elite corporate masters who have their hands all over the government.
The largest medical board, the ABIM, intentionally lied to the IRS about the creation of the Foundation for years about Iowa domicile partly because in Iowa the tax reporting laws are lax and there were political and financial boons in operating out of Philadelphia. ABIM executives could help maintain social, political and healthcare agendas, while serving the medical industrial complex.
ABIM Foundation's tax filings indicate millions of dollars in grants to the Philadelphia-based ACP and Chicago's AMA for "advertising" is proof of this. Hundreds of thousands of dollars to George Soros' NGO confirms the suspicion. Choosing Wisely receiving money from the (Christine Cassel-controlled) Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is political money laundering. From the corporate perspective MOC and the ABIM/ABMS all points at and adds up to public fraud and racketeering. The executives are appointed to serve themselves and to support a lucrative franchise of deceit.
Money transferred to the Foundation from the ABIM is a thorn in the side of physicians. The ABIM Foundation is the Achilles heel of the entire ABMS, not just the ABIM. They all got greedy. Once exposed the financial avarice and political transgressions became apparent.
We need to remove the thorn and pierce the heel. There is no greater moral imperative for physicians to end mandatory MOC and thereby gain some freedom to remove the other thorns. States must act to support this. The POTHUS and HHS secretary must execute multiple orders to free physicians from the quality assurance cartels greedy evil clutches.
Martin Luther King Day at the ABIM makes people of color and women sour on Rich Baron's phony political ploy
Go to https://twitter.com/abimcert?lang=en for even more embarrassing ABIM PR and high-level executive lobbying--to stay out of prison.
(Also go to https://www.pacer.gov/ for court documents on the many discrimination lawsuits filed against the ABIM! Open a free account and type in American Board of Internal Medicine in your search. It is ugly what you will find.)
Making subway sandwiches on MLK Day to distribute to the poor is a form of political lobbying/influence pedaling, also. But it does not change anything about the ABIM's wrongdoing or financial shenanigans in the eyes of the IRS or DOJ. Every mobster pays some tax, and gives to the church or some charity. The ABIM does not even do this. No tax at all to the city of Philly, the state or federal government. And they use volunteers rather than spend one dime of Rich's outrageous million- dollar compensation, first-class airfare, precious offshore retirement fund money, and deferred accounts. How many retirement funds does he have by now?
https://twitter.com/ABIMcert/status/821436021023842304
The Medical profession has lost credibility. It's a criminal syndicate with a handful of decent people who are actually in it to help others. The rest will kill when there's more money in it.
Remember when the American College of Cardiology sent an email stating that ABIM MOC is not a part of the ObamaCare language?
https://qpp.cms.gov/measures/ia
Participation in MOC Part IV
ADD
Participation in Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Part IV for improving professional practice including participation in a local, regional or national outcomes registry or quality assessment program. Performance of monthly activities across practice to regularly assess performance in practice, by reviewing outcomes addressing identified areas for improvement and evaluating the results.
Activity ID
IA_PSPA_2
Subcategory Name
Patient Safety & Practice Assessment
Activity Weighting
Medium
Clinical physicians have been turned into indentured servants. Part of the decades-long process involved has been to make physicians politically impotent by creating an environment where physicians are over-regulated and made the object of propaganda (even demonized and politically persecuted) by highly corrupt, greedy, powerful political organizations like the ABIM.
Who does the ABIM serve? We now know they do not serve the profession or the public. They serve themselves to enhance their profits and the profits of the special interests they serve. The ABIM "executives" were bought out long ago. It is time to lock them up at the ABMS for public fraud and racketeering.
MOC is the illegal milk or "Drs." Rich Baron, Lois Nora and their ilk. What does that money and power of theirs serve? It serves to bolster corporate profits and via government rationing the endless foreign wars and toppling the governments of sovereign nations. It is time to take their medical licenses away and put them in prison for the harm they have done to medicine, but especially for the infinite harm they have done to patients. It is incalculable. Many of these greedy professional medical politicians at the ABIM and ABMS from Thomas Brem to Christine Cassel--if all the facts were brought out--should be prosecuted in the Hague, or the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Dr Baron should take a hard look at the carnage his involvement which Cassel's regime caused. He is just a continuance of the same corrupt practices that have led to increased morbidity and death. I would like to have an investigation of the ABIM/ABMS' involvement in government, which Rich Baron is no stranger to with his work for the CMS and NQF. It is quite certain that healthcare policy advisers like Chris Cassel, serving as CEO of non-profit NGO's and simultaneously as national security advisers to the president (PCAST) on healthcare "reforms", were furthering corporate/government agendas and even servicing foreign policy to enhance the profits of the military industrial complex.
ABIM certainly appears like an instrument of healthcare rationing by the government? Choosing Wisely is rationing of care. And the rest of their endless testing demands, leading to early retirement and outrageous failure rates do limit access to healthcare. MOC is further evidence of fraud and manipulation. Hiring felons/legal thugs to further their political agenda. Maybe they do belong in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
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