“Plaintiffs plan to appeal in full the dismissal of their case. While we respect the district court, we believe it was wrong at this early stage of the litigation to dismiss Plaintiff’s case and deprive them of their day in court. Plaintiffs look forward to the vindication of their claims on appeal.”ABIM may have thought they won this case on dismissal, but it looks the plaintiffs' claims will get a second more critical review of the case with the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
-Wes
Physicians wishing to support the plaintiffs in this unprecedented action are encouraged to contribute here.
12 comments:
Thank you for everything you do. I will keep my chin up with you. We owe you so much for fighting for us! Everybody DONATE!
Having witnessed the PA courts for decades, born and raised in PA, I wonder if this case would do better in a different state given how they favor big corporate healthcare ...
Does anyone know to ask for help from Adam Connover? He is a comedian but has a show on Tru TV, Adam Ruins Everything, where he does expose's on issues. Maybe he could do one on MOC and the issues that the ABIM and ABMS are doing to physicians, patients and the public.
More platinum star obfuscation?
Where is the ABIM's Schedule 990 T elaborating on their unrelated (taxable) business income?
ABIM marked yes, acknowledging that they in fact had unrelated business income, yet the IRS did not get it. I checked. Would the CFO please make the 2018 990 T available on the ABIM website as required for not-for-profits(501(c)(3) corporations?
"18Section 6104 requires an organization to make its Form 1023 (or 1024-A if applicable), 990, and 990-T (501(c)(3)s only) available for public inspection. Indicate how you made these available. Check all that apply. X Own website Another's website X Upon request"
ABIM's latest MOC testing "inconvenience" that may affect your customer experience with ABIM and attitude toward ABMS MOC®!
The ABIM Knowdelge Check-In (KCI) is apparently still in BETA. It does not work reliably!
This is not a joke, it is high stakes testing. Every time I go the ABIM's website I read that KCI has had a system failure or other major problem. Now it does not work with the latest MAC Operating System. (macOS Catalina)
From ABIM's website
https://www.abim.org/maintenance-of-certification/assessment-information/prepare-for-assessment-in-a-test-center.aspx
"macOS UPDATE AFFECTS PHYSICIANS TAKING KNOWLEDGE CHECK-IN REMOTELY EXPAND/COLLAPSE THE ABIM ALERT.
If you are scheduled to take the Knowledge Check-In remotely and use an Apple device running the latest macOS (Catalina), ABIM was recently made aware of a technical issue that may affect your ability to take the Knowledge Check-In.
The macOS update does not include support for Adobe Air, meaning the software used to deliver the Knowledge Check-In online is not compatible with systems running on Catalina as of October 7, 2019.
If you are taking the Knowledge Check-In on a Mac and want to confirm your system is still compatible, please take the system check again. If you are unable to access a compatible system or would like to reschedule to a test center, please call our dedicated physician support line at 1-800-606-0259 as soon as possible."
We all hate being tied to MOC and want our day in court.
Hello MOC Haters! Here's one more thing to add to your personal top ten lists of things you hate most about MOC.
*The ABIM's executives and IT Departments can't keep up - let alone do their jobs! MOC has scuttled the ship.
ABIM's executives and IT department are sinking under the weight of their own failed and failing MOC® products and services!
LATEST KCI MOC NEWS
Thinking of Taking an ABIM KCI online "at home" test? Not so fast. After administering a quick beta test using paid volunteers, and then several failed LIVE KCI PRODUCT LAUNCHES, KCI is already a failed legacy product. And now it is incompatible for MAC lovers using the latest OPERATING SYSTEM CATALINA.
This bears repeating so it sinks in. The ABIM is not keeping up. They are treading water because MOC is heavy dead weight, not just for docs, but for the entire ABMS/ABIM.
MOC is killing the host (more wasted money, time and energy)
ABIM's KCI specialty and subspecialty (BETA) tests are already legacy products that may be incompatible with your home or office computers. It has also failed in Pearson Vue testing centers. The platform is not reliable and not secure and may be breached easily by hackers according to security experts. It has not been thoroughly tested.
IF the Knowledge Check In (KCI) MOC testing platform were a medical device, the FDA would not approve it. Consumer Reports would not recommend it. The platform is full of security holes and privacy related issues.
Even the NSA has been hacked and has issues keeping data safe. Homeland Security ditto on the embarrassing and invasive security breaches. Hospitals have been hacked and ransomed. Insurance companies ransacked by hackers, the list is endless.
A technology with this many failures, trust me, has even greater underlying security and privacy issues. Buyer beware the fox is watching the hen house.
No accountability at the ABIM or ABMS. Unlimited conflicts of interest.
The ABMS has also been known to use third-party online spies that have no accountability, completely anonymous. Secret locations at home and have no business offices to go and complain to.
ABMS (ABIM) A Big Medical Specialty "House of Cards"
How Trustworthy is Your Medical Specialty Board?
The ABIM is such a caricature of what a medical specialty board should be. So corrupted. You can't make this stuff up. An undisclosed double-felon (corporate hit man) working for them, trusted with private data on physicians and competitors. Hired to find dirt on their competitors and spy on physicians. The thug did just that.
Ultimately, making things up, slanting facts and presenting a false narrative to a judge, including a fraudulent need for urgency, in behalf of the ABIM and its executive officers. No representation was allowed for the defendants. Any lawful court has a serious problem with those kinds of proceedings where a defendant is denied representation.
Do I suspect ABIM and Ballard Spahr were involved in wrongdoing in past legal actions? I maintain that the ABIM and its counsel conducted an improper ex-parte communication with a federal judge in the eastern district of Pennsylvania in December of 2009.
I came to this conclusion after talking with some involved and studying many court documents and later researching what I consider to be the improper persecution and intimidation of physicians studying for board exams, who happened to attend one of ABIM's targeted hit list of board review companies. Why they did this and the timing is important to think about an analyze.
ABMS/ABIM's actions fit any definition of a gangster organization that you would like to give them.
A corporate enterprise with a deeply conflicted and improper political involvement/influence in the health care industry and government.
Personally, I don't think you can trust any legal representation (or system) when a felon or egregiously conflicted medical politician gets to decide the facts for a series of cases presented to a federal judge. We just don't know the extent of the tampering or what kinds of ex-parte communications took place under Baron and Cassel's watch in the past, but the dirty billiard ball(s) never presented itself for examination. And the ABIM worked hard to keep the truth from reaching the light of day. (A history that is repeating itself today.)
The prosecution of a Puerto Rican physician was another abuse (over reach) of ABIM's (self-appointed) authority and power.
The ABIM ( working with the ABMS) has proven itself to be a dirty player hiring thugs and fly-by-night lawyers that leave no trace. They have committed many wrongs in trying to keep and expand their testing monopoly and political influence. In 2008/2009/2010 the ABMS and ABIM were beginning their globalist expansion, which certainly played a part in the hiring of a felon/director of investigations to keep an eye on the interests of the growing empire. I would be very interested in seeing any government related documents that may indicate an abuse of power by any of ABIM's (ABMS) executives.
They will perhaps in the end blame the massive dissatisfaction with them and their ultimate failure on the useless distractions such as lawsuits claiming they were involved in racketeering. (Which is true when you have the actual chance to present the facts and conduct an honestly "brokered" discovery process.) In the end the last of the aging executives will take their golden parachutes (or not) and they will be pointing fingers in every direction except themselves.
In reality, it is the evil withing the ranks of the ABMS' internal stakeholders that is at the heart of the ABMS problem. The corruption has become institutionalized and their external stakeholders hold the reins. (Physicians and patients are sitting at the bottom of the totem pole.)
ABIM corrupt, greedy and political from the get-go.
Don't believe it?
Just look at the parent organizations.
Mama AMA and Papa ACP in case you didn't you know!
Is there any chance we could get the federal government to sue to the boards or launch an investigation?
It is mind-blowing that ABIM can UNCERTIFY physicians for not taking or not passing the MOC exam. By doing so, ABIM takes away years of studies, a mountain of testing, sleepless nights of residency, months of study for the initial certification exam that we all had to pass. It is mind-blowing that ABIM re-certification policy TAKES AWAY everything that we have done in the past. ABIM may say it is developing new strategies of testing, but what to do for those of us who are already UNCERTIFIED AND JOBLESS? ABIM is robbing us of everything that we worked for. Hypocritically, this is done in the name of patients’ safety. Wake up! Medicine is no longer safe. Physicians are forced to run in-and-out of patients’ rooms. Productivity and RVUs are what our bosses are concerned with – and patients’ PERCEPTION OF CARE. By extension, let's decertify our CPAs, attorneys, judges, teachers, etc. NO? Only doctors?
It's been ages since high school yet nobody is rescinding our H.S. diplomas. ABIM/ whichever board sees a money making opportunity and conceives ways to pressure aka extort getting paid.,
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