Mark Lopatin, MD, has been a vocal opponent of ABIM’s MOC process for several years, but says that these new options are similar to changes he’d like to see in his subspecialty of rheumatology. His 1986 board certification in internal medicine is still considered valid, even though he hasn’t practiced in the field for 30 years, he says. But because rheumatology boards were not available in 1989, he took and passed the exam in 1990—one year too late to achieve grandfathered status—and has gone through the MOC process every 10 years since. He won’t be taking a fourth exam in 2020, however. “To take rheumatology boards means that I have to spend about three months preparing—at least three months—studying rote memorization of facts, esoteric stuff, trivial pursuit kinds of stuff that is not relevant to what I do on a day in, day out basis,” he says. “I’ll be 63 years old at that time, so if I took it and retired at 65, it buys me another year or two. It’s not worth it.”MOC and these subspecialty "continuous certification" products are (and always were) about financial coercion, strongman threats, false claims, monopoly-making and deception. Medicine has no place for these things. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of doctors have donated to help end the MOC product's threat to a physicians hard-earned right to work.
While pleased to see ABIM collaborating with medical societies in some subspecialties, Lopatin says the testing component is still fundamentally flawed. “They’re still focused on that high-stress, timed exam that needs to be passed. What really needs to be measured is due diligence,” he says.
And despite his impending exit from medicine, Lopatin has already donated twice to PPA’s GoFundMe campaign. “I’ve been very outspoken about this, and this is my chance to put my money where my mouth is,” he says. “I am stopping my career because of this. To me, that’s a pretty strong statement about how I feel about what ABIM has done and is doing.”
Except physicians like Dr. Lopatin. Dr. Lopatin demonstrates something that MOC and all those costly pushed quizzes to our mobile phones will never be able to test...
... leadership and integrity.
Thanks, Mark.
Here's hoping others will follow your lead.
-Wes
14 comments:
Hell yes. Donating 500.00 per bonus cycle until goal is reached. That's 2000.00 per year. And I am general internal medicine.
Physicians truly suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. Robbed blind at gunpoint, each victim in the process exhibits a peculiar form of psychological shock. By going along with ABMS MOC mandates, captured docs are willy nilly aiding and abetting the thieves.
Be all that you can be. Fight back.
ABMS wants to "self-regulate" you wherever you are in the world.
But only in the US does the ABMS/ABIM threaten your livelihood and MOC you to death!
Not in Beirut! Not in Singapore! Not in Qatar! Not in Saudi Arabia!
Testing physicians to death with the accompanying fees and endless busy work is only mandated in the United States!
Why?
Is it that physicians have fewer rights in the United States? Or are we more easily deceived?
They say it is all "voluntary", but that is the biggest MOCing (lie) of them all!
ABMS MOC® is the worst damn thing ever made in the USA!
MOC® is part of a highly sophisticated (monopolistic) educational Ponzi scheme.
For a fee, after submitting to endless grueling tests, the ABMS might allow you to work, get paid and care for your patients.
How did we ever allow this to happen in our self-regulation? Isn't it time for a vote to end MOC? Unfortunately the ABMS/ABIM is not listening. There will never be a vote or a voice at the table. The table is all show and lacks honesty and transparency. The largess of the executives and conflicts of interest must end along with MOC. We have to vote by funding the lawsuits that will restore some balance and sanity. A lifelong certification will go a long way to restore balance and sanity. There is little doubt in my mind, after studying the matter, that the entire ABMS is involved in the racketeering.
The ABMS is spending millions of dollars in propaganda/PR to tell you that they are listening and changing, but it is just a house of cards with hot air and our money propping up the corrupted state of affairs.
Fund the PPA. Talk to your legislators about this tragic state of affairs. Get involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam
Sickeningly Creepy Technology Invented To Support ABMS MOC®
"An exhibit hall representing innovators in areas of assessment, test development and administration, data collection and measurement, and more."
"Unbreakable security of your data?" "Psychometric analysis to create legally defensible exams?"
Certification/MOC software providing lucrative features for data collection on physicians, patients, societies, associations with unbeatable (unknown) third-party integration.
Companies like Pearson Vue, Kryterion, and Caveon* (*internet spies/testing security police who have helped put teachers in prison and spied on school children online)
What kind of world is the ABMS and their corporate partners creating for us?
What kind of world do we wish to live in?
The Brave New World the ABMS and their surveillance/monitoring alliance has created is not only disturbing, it is sickeningly creepy.
https://www.abms.org/news-events/events/abms-conference-2019/
Entirely agree. Am leaving practice early because it is not worth recertifying. Very sad. The process over the past 30 years has been expensive and fraught with injustice: the arbitrary grandfathering in, the reams of esoterica and the claims of physician cheating by a previous administrator. Nothing collegial about the process. Learning and staying up to date has been something I have done consistently and separately from ABMS.
I believe there will come an end to ABMS/ABIM and this one directional profiteering(them). As more us realize MOC gives me no more academic eligibility as my fellow internists that may have missed the passing Mark by a few points....ridiculous!
A once and lifetime certification is more than reasonable. Let's all get on with this. I support the PPA and plan to give my portion.
I FAILED THE ABIM EXAM THRICE BY JUST A VERY FEW POINTS, ONCE BY 1 POINT. AT THAT TIME I WAS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND AN INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED SCIENTIST IN BIOCHEMICAL KINETICS. WHEN I FINALLY PASSED I TRIED TO TAKE THE CARDIOLOGY BOARDS, BUT THE BOARD TOLD ME I WAS NOT ELIGIBLE BUT WOULD NOT TELL ME WHY. I CALLED A FEW TIMES AND THE BOARD LAWYER TOLD ME IF I EVER CALL THE BOARD AGAIN AND ASK WHY I AM NOT ELIGIBLE, I WILL NEVER TAKE ANOTHER EXAM AT THE ABIM. MY FELLOWSHIP IN CARDIOLOGY WAS 1983-1985, BUT I HAD ALSO SPENT 6 YEARS AT THE NIH, ONE YEAR PURELY IN THEORETICAL BIOCHEMICAL KINETICS WITH A SENIOR MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN THE ARTHRITIS INSTITUTE AND FIVE DOING EXPERIMENTAL KINETICS IN THE HEART INSTITUTE. I STAYED THAT LONG BECAUSE I HAD BEEN PROMISED AFTER THREE YEARS THAT IF I STAYED I WOULD OBTAIN A PERMANENT POSITION, BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. IN 2007 I FOUND A STRONG LAWYER WILLING TO GO AFTER THE BOARD. THEY OBTAINED AN OUTSIDE LAWYER AND THE ARGUMENT BEGAN, AND FINALLY BY BEING ABLE TO PROVE I HAD A FELLOWSHIP I WAS MADE BOARD ELIGIBLE, 23 YEARS AFTER MY FELLOWSHIP. IT TURNED OUT THAT THE CHIEF OF CARDIOLOGY DID NOT WANT ME TO BE CERTIFIED IN CARDIOLOGY BECAUSE HE WAS NOT EVER CERTIFIED. SINCE I WAS SO MANY YEARS OUT AND BUSY I NEEDED ANOTHER YEAR OF FELLOWSHIP (THE FELLOWSHIP HAD BECOME 4 YEARS AND NI CARDIOLOGISTS WERE DOING TEE'S). BUT AGAIN MY CHIEF OF CARDIOLOGY WAS WRITTEN TO LIKE A KNEE JERK RESPONSE WHEN I APPLIED, AND HE BLOCKED THIS FROM HAPPENING. WE NEED TO GET RID OF THE ABIM, PERHAPS THE ACC COULD TAKE OVER CERTIFICATION IN CARDIOLOGY. LT COM LAS, USPHS/CG, MD&PHD (pHYSICS), FACC, FASNC.
I opted to retire. Let me choose what to study—for the enjoyment of learning.
I am triple boarded in Internal Medicine,Critical Care and Adult Cardiovascular Diseases. I have taken each 10 year exam in all 3 specialties at least 3 times over the course of my career, never failed. The 10 year exam is not difficult at all. Getting your 100 MOC points every 5 year is not hard to do. If you love medicine the only critique you can come up with is that the exams are expensive. But then how many physicians don't build a "castle" for themselves and pay a mortgage until 75 ...well yea then the whole process appears expensive.A lot to do about nothing.
MOC ended my Internal Medicine career. I refused to spend 3 months studying useless facts I could easily look up, or never needed to know. So I declined to re-certify (again!) at age 64. Too bad as I work in an area of physician shortage. My patients can't find new doctors. No one here accepts NBPAS board certification, and "board" certification was required. I had almost 200 hours of CME last year. I'm an avid reader and keep current in topics that pertain to my practice. I would have happily practiced another 4-5 years. I'd like to see the proof MOC has improved the health of America. Sure has contributed to the doctor shortage.
Thank you for your input, god De Gent. Where do you practice that you have so much time and energy to see patients and take care of the administrative issues of notes and lab follow up that you find time to easily pass all those exams. For those of us already working 100 hour weeks, these is not much time for sleeping, breathing, or being with family. I have also passed all the recerts that I have taken, boarded in Internal medicine, cardiology and interventional cardiology, lest you think I am an inferior species with only one board, but keeping up with the dog and pony show of the MOC points adds another level of frustration when you are trying to provide good quality (not high volume, like many unscrupulous physicians today) care for your fellow human. With your level of arrogance, no wonder lay people lay the blame for medicine’s downfall on the physicians instead of the various systems undermining our efforts.
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